Cold New World
by sarwolfstarbuck
Summary: Alyss and Scarlett Little grew up as witches, homeschooled by their father in the muggle world. When disaster strikes, they go to Hogwarts, where they find their footing, new friends, new enemies and, on Alyss's part, a little bit of confusion, because she meets this guy, and nothing seems normal.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is my first attempt at a fanfiction. If anybody actually reads this: enjoy and let me know what you think. I'll try to update it once a week, but schoolwork might get in the way, and for that I am prematurely sorry!**_

_**-SarWolf**_

Chapter One

"You're being an idiot, Alyss."

My little sister's big eyes pleaded with me from across the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. I was surprised she wasn't angrier with me – I was being more pig-headed than was usual for me, even after all that we had been through in the past few months.

"I know. I'm sorry, Scar." I sighed. I hated disappointing Rosalynd Persephone (nicknamed Scarlett because her name was far too girly) – she was the only real family I had left, and it was my job to keep her close, safe and loved. Which, to be quite frank, was a lot of pressure for an almost-seventeen year old. But with our parents gone, I refused to let anybody else take that job, especially not the "aunt" who took us in. I didn't know why we couldn't just live with the Malfoys, our family friends!

_Scorpious Malfoy. _Ugh, I was SO annoyed that he wasn't yet around, because we were dropped off at the train station so early. But I supposed that it wasn't his fault, just like it wasn't his fault that he was Head Boy. Or that he wasn't able to sit with us for the first part of the journey to our new school, Hogwarts. I missed him, one of my closest friends, and hadn't seen him since my parents' funeral.

My sister and I were unique in the wizarding world. While half-blood witches, we grew up in South African muggle society and our parents wanted us to finish muggle school before truly joining the wizarding world. Our father (the wizard) had home schooled us in fields of magic, so we were technically _ready _to start at Hogwarts, but they had kept us close for a reason. When they died, "Aunt" Mae insisted on transferring us to Hogwarts. At least I had matriculated from our muggle school early, but at fourteen, Scar still had three years before finishing.

"Stop scowling! I can feel you overthinking everything, Al." She glared at me balefully, and I looked at her in astonishment.

"I hadn't realized you were well versed in the arts of occlumency, sister." My voice was icy, and I turned my heavy scowl onto her. "Don't pretend you can possibly understand what's going on in my head."

"Oh, get off your high horse and stop being silly. Come _on, _Al! This is what we've been waiting for since you turned eleven! And I know it was wrong of Mae to go against Mummy and Daddy's wishes, but she meant well." She lightly kicked my shin.

I sighed, grudgingly pacified by her quick smile. "She didn't take kindly to my incredibly witty remarks in the car yesterday, and I'm not sure I can forgive _anybody, _let alone Mae, that grievous offense."

"She is a bit dour," admitted Scar, "but it doesn't matter, because we are going to Hogwarts, where we don't have to deal with her, and by the end of next year, you'll be old enough to inherit the family home and I can live with you! So stop brooding and get, like, _super _pumped!"

By the end of the phrase, she had adopted a mockingly airheaded voice – the kind most people expected from her, that went along with her long, straight blonde hair, big green eyes, elfish, delicate features and willow-y (but slightly gangly) build. I looked at her, wanting to smile but unwilling to let go of my dark mood. It wouldn't be fair to – especially with regards to circumstances of my parents' death. _It was all my fault. _

"I _like _brooding," I sniffed. "It goes hand in hand with my _look." _

"What, the angelic sweetheart bit?" Scarlett raised her eyebrows at me, and laughed at me. "_Oh,_ look at me, with my metal music and my dark fantasy and my brand new spanking-hot nose stud that can't take away from how utterly adorable I am on a day to day basis. _How _dark, mysterious and sexy am I! Watch me brood in my pretty skirts and converse shoes! Honestly, you look more like a hipster than anything else, and you can't brood to save your life."

I gasped, feigning outrage. "Don't forget the extra earrings and the tattoo Scorp dared me to get when I turned 16! And I'll have you know that I can be a total bitch. And _you_ can attest to that."

"Yes, yes, you're an evil genius whose plans are the best, I know," she said impatiently. "But you need to let go of the past and embrace the future. Go forth with an open mind!"

Let go of the past? How could she even _think _something like that? It had been 6 months since the funeral, which rendered us officially orphaned, and it was hard enough to stop thinking about everything while I wrote my final exams and graduated. I could feel the expression of tentative happiness fall from my face like quicksilver.

"Stop that." Scar looked at me, annoyed. "Stop thinking that everything is your fault, and accept that our parents would have wanted us to be happy and insane and as we usually are. Let's take Hogwarts by storm! This is our year, Al! The Little sisters are in town, and the school won't know what hit it!"

She was wrong about everything, but I decided to humour her. I would no longer be sad in front of her. I would be strong. She needed me strong.

But I wouldn't let her get off that easily.

"Fine," I snapped, surprised at my sudden bad mood. "But I'm not being super friendly and happy-go-lucky on my first day. I'm going to be prickly, because ew. People."

She looked at me again. She looked, for wont of a better phrase, so _done. _"Fine, you don't have to be besties with everyone right away. I think people are finally starting to arrive on the platform, though – we were way too early this morning."

"Go meet people," I grumbled, " and leave me to my music."

"Um, you realize that there isn't anybody on the train yet and we have Doctor Who on your laptop, right?" _Great, now she thinks I'm insane, judging from her face. _"And besides, how can we be the Mysterious and Sexy Little sisters without people discovering _us?_ I think we should wait for Scorp to show up, and _then _be social."

Ah, there was my baby sister. She certainly had a one-track mind. And that one-track mind revolved around her favourite shows. _The witch-turned-fangirl. _I was similar.

"Shouldn't we discuss what house we are going to be in and how we're finally not in a single-sex school? And the hot boys and… stuff?" I flicked my dark blonde mess of curls over my shoulders, where it hung to the small of my back, and batted my dark brown eyes at her sweetly.

We looked at each other, and burst into peals of laughter. "You realize that electronics barely work at Hogwarts, right? And who needs hot boys when David Tennant is the doctor?" Scarlett gasped with mirth.

She had a point. Doctor Who on my laptop it was, as the Hogwart Express filled with curious students who didn't know if they should stare at the new girls or their strange muggle contraption.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The nudges and stares that were coming from outside our compartment as we watched Doctor Who had continued for the first few hours of our journey. Finally, I hit the pause button. "Enough, Scar. I need to obsess over our current going-to-British-boarding-school status. Like, what house will we be in? How will they decide?" I whipped out my wand and started to polish it, while green and silver sparks flew out the end.

"But Rose Tyler and the Doctor, Alyss! Wait. Are you…" She gaped at me. "Are you _nervous?" _

"That's ridiculous," I said coldly. Nervous wasn't in my vocabulary. New place? Bah. I will never yield.

"YOU ARE. This… this is so weird!" She put away the laptop. "You realize that these are _our _people, right? They aren't the muggles from our old school, they won't ostracise us for never going out. We can be normal here; we'll only have one workload! It'll be like that time we spent three months touring with that orchestra." Scar gestured to the violin on her lap, and the flute that I wouldn't leave in South Africa, no matter Mae's wishes.

I turned to her, opening my mouth to tell her that I hoped she was right when—

_CRASH. _The sound of destruction could only mean one thing.

"Tell me, Malfoy, how are you going to keep the Head Boy badge if you manage to break the train on your first day?" I turned around; ready to repair the glass door of our compartment and clean up my friend's mess. But it wasn't my blonde friend who had lost his dignity among the broken glass, but a lanky, lean boy with a shock of messy black hair and almond-shaped green eyes and a slightly dazed expression.

"Oops!" He cried, jumping up, I surged to my feet, confused lack his lack of worry at the numerous cuts from the broken glass on his arms. He was several inches taller than me, but that's normal when you're five foot three, and so I had to peer up at him. He grinned manically.

"What on _earth," _asked Scarlett, "are you _doing?_ Why did you break the door? How did you break the door? Who _are _you? Why—"

"Scarlett," I interrupted sharply, "Give the guy space to breathe. He just fell through a glass door for no apparent reason."

"You must be the Little sisters!" The boy bowed dramatically and spun around.

_How is he so balanced? _I thought. The rest of my brain was occupied with: _Yum, British accent plus pretty boy. This year won't be so bad. OMG, I'm a terrible person—_

"SCORPY BOY! I'VE FOUND YOUR PRETTY FRIENDS!" The boy bellowed down the hall. I jumped. I was not expecting such a loud noise. I turned to Scarlett who just looked immensely entertained at the sight of this gangly boy bleeding in our compartment.

He shot off. "Where _are _you, Scorpy? I DID A THING."

My sister and I exchanged looks. "Everyone's insane here," she said happily. "This is going to be fantastic!"

I sighed and _Reparo-_edthe door. "Right, Scar. But that really wasn't my first line of thought when I saw that guy." I grinned wickedly.

"Dude, you're such a _chick_," My little sister said fondly. "Cute guy comes falling in here and your first though _would, _undoubtedly, be 'I'd tap that'." She shook her head at me happily, and I realized that this was the first time I had mentioned boys since the events of six months ago. Huh. Maybe Hogwarts would be good for me.

I threw myself onto the cushy red bench of the compartment. "What can I say? I don't have a filter!" Scar and I laughed again, in stark contrast to my earlier dark mood. How confusing. I hated mood swings.

"You look happy, sweetheart," I said quietly. That's all I wanted, really. To make sure Scarlett was happy. If she was happy, it meant that everything would end up being okay. She looked at me questioningly, and I smiled at her. _Time to get un-sappy. _"Could the fact that you don't have to wear a skirt every day at Hogwarts have something to do with that?"

Her eyes lit up. "I had forgotten about that! _I need to go change into my new school uniform!" _She glanced down at her uniform t-shirt-and-jeans ensemble.

How, exactly, my sister had _forgotten_ that she didn't have to wear a skirt was beyond me. "Scar, you burned our old uniform skirts the minute we arrived in England. You nearly caused a forest fire. How did you manage to forget?"

"No idea!" Her eyes danced with crazy glee as she ran out the door. "I'll see you once I've changed!"

"Slacker!" I called after her, "I've been changed since before we left!"

I smiled at her craziness – it was refreshing and felt good to know that, at least, we weren't separated. Maybe Hogwarts would be okay, despite the whispers and stares and late start. I had Scorpius, or would, when he finally showed his face, and my sister, and everything would be all right.

I settled down onto one of the benches, inserted my ear buds, took off my glasses, and decided to take a nap. With Marilyn Manson blaring in my ears, I was in a little cocoon of my own relaxation and nothing could stop me from sitting here and nodding off and—

Silence. I opened my eyes and grabbed my wand, ready to bat-bogey the _shit _out of whoever took away my ear buds. "WHO DARES DISTURB MY – oh, thanks, mate, glasses are always helpful whenever I want to hex somebody – SLUMBER?"

"Hey, Little," my best friend smirked from a few inches above me, "Were you always this dramatic? And did you shrink? I swear you weren't this tiny a few months ago, you were at least able to _reach _my shoulder – OUCH!" I punched him, hard.

"Asshole! Insulting someone is not the way you tell her you missed her!" I threw my arms around him, grinning like a fool. No matter how much I hated being interrupted, it had been ages since I had seen Scorp. A long-distance-best-friendship was really, _really _hard. As much as I wanted to jump up and squeal about seeing him, _finally, _that wouldn't have been cool. Our friendship was defined by insults and teasing each other and jokes and punches and the very occasional deep, meaningful chat. I ruffled his hair, no easy feat on somebody so tall, and smiled at him again.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a horrible person, but you really need to be more careful because you pack quite some power for such a tiny person." He looked like he was about to jump up and down, squealing, as well, until a voice interrupted our reunion.

"So, Scorpy, are you going to be a freak about this forever or are you actually going to introduce your friend to us and make her a mutual friend?" The pout in the boy's voice was unmistakeable.

"Honestly, Al, you're so impatient! Let them have their lovely reunion!" I swivelled my head around Scorpius's broad frame and saw two people standing there – the tall, adorable boy from earlier, who broke the glass, and an equally tall, equally beautiful girl with a mane of gorgeous, shoulder length red hair.

"You!" I cried. I turned to Scorp. "He broke the glass in my compartment earlier." I was quite chuffed that this crazy boy was a friend of Scorp's. Hopefully, his energy would rub off on me in time. I raised my hand to slap him a high five.

"See, I _told _you she didn't mind," he said to the redheaded girl, simultaneously slapping me high five. "Why _would_ she? I was greeting them with enthusiasm!"

She shook her head at him, grinning, and looked at me. "I'm sorry for my cousin. He's not usually this hyper but he ate 8 chocolate frogs in a row and then an entire box of Every Flavoured Beans at once." I winced, wondering how the questionable flavours would taste together.

Scorpius turned around, about to introduce us, but Scarlett had just arrived back from changing into her school robes. She burst into the compartment, pushed the cousins out of the way, and jumped at Scorp. "_Poison!"_

"Pomegranate!" he laughed, and swept her into a huge hug. He had always been the brother we never actually had, and Scar went to him for advice almost as often as she came to me.

"Why the fuck haven't you visited since the funeral, _bitch?" _Scar hissed. "We missed you! One measly letter is all we bloody got –"

"Sorry, you know I was in the Amazon for three months and it's hard to keep owls down there –"

"Sisters?" Red mused, glancing at Glass Boy.

"Sisters," he decided. He strode over to me sticking out his hand and looking immensely please with himself. "Since Scorpius is a bit busy," He nodded to where my sister was still yelling at our friend, "I'll introduce myself. I'm Albus Severus Potter, and this," he gestured to his cousin, "is the lovely and brilliant Rose Weasley." He nodded sagely and asked, "Has the food cart been around to yours yet? Do you know what house you're in?"

"Al, _really," _chided Red – Rose – with a fond smile on her own face. "Let the new girl actually arrive at school before pestering her. What's your name?" She directed the question at me. _And Rose would be there to calm our mad energy, how wonderful._

I grinned. "Alyssa Little, at your service. I don't know my house yet, I imagine I'll be assigned one upon arrival. And that child over there is my baby sister, Rosalynd Persephone," and by this time I was shouting in her direction, trying to distract her from the epic battle between her and Scorp, "Who _loves _her name and _loves _pink and skirts and—" I stopped when I got a baleful glare from her side and a grateful look from Scorp.

Scar swung around and stalked towards us. "I am not a child, I hate pink and skirts and if you ever call me Rosalynd or Persephone I will either hex you or beat you up. It's _Scarlett. _Nice to meet you."

Rose and Albus exchanged amused glances, Scorpius looked ruffled and grumpy that he was about to lose an epic battle of wills, and something caught the corner of my eye. The train turned a bend and _there it was. _Hogwarts castle, our new home.

As the Hogwarts Express began to pull to a stop, Scorp, Albus and Rose made their apologies and promised to see us later, and ran off to gather their bags. I wondered what would be in store for the coming year.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Well, that was fun!" Scarlett said gleefully. She always had had a penchant for being a bit violent. She was a bit of a fire hazard, always hot-tempered (adorably so) but never malicious.

Unlike her older sister. I shuddered to remember what I was capable of. That night was dark and horrible, and—

No. I promised Scarlett not to think of it. It would only put me in a terrible mood.

As we packed up our in-train (?) entertainment I re-inserted one of my earphones, knowing that people would be gawking at us all the way up to the castle. I preferred not to talk to the people around me, quite frankly, and I hoped the earbud would dissuade the multitude of curious voices. I could just imagine: _"_Are you _new? _Where are you _from?_ Why have you come to Hogwarts?"

It would be a bit much for my first day in my new home.

"There are a multitude of different reasons of why earphones are a stupid reason, Al," Scar said, rolling her eyes. "First of all, these are _wizards_. They don't understand electronics. Earphones won't stop them from talking to you. Secondly, electronics start to screw themselves up when they get near a place like Hogwarts, which you would know if you had read _Hogwarts, A History."_

"Not reading it was a protest against being forced here against our parents' wishes. Excuse me for having beliefs and a bit of a spine!" I was a bit huffy. I couldn't believe she wouldn't just drop it – it had been _weeks _since I justified myself initially."

Scar rolled her eyes. "Thirdly, you're with me. It's not _nice _to ignore me with earphones, especially when mine are in the bottom of my bag."

I glared at her. "Sorry, bro, for not wanting to talk to anybody – for feeling a bit down. I'll take my earphones out –" at this point I angrily pulled them out of my ear "—and not be _quite _so horribly rude." I glowered at her. I _was _nervous, I realized unhappily, and scared of the implications of being sorted into the various houses in front of everyone. I supposed I couldn't count on Scorp to be quite so close to me here, he had his own life – and the other people, Red and Glass Boy (despite knowing their names, I couldn't help but think of them that way), probably didn't want to be friends with _me. _I was too prickly, too quiet, and they didn't know it yet, but would soon.

This was just another place where I would be the outlier. The Muggle-raised girl among the Hogwarts kids. And despite what Scar said, I was sure to be right. Were these my people? Would I be able to make friends?

I doubted it.

_As long as Scar is happy, you stay positive and pretend to be just fine, _I told myself. _Buck up, Little._

Scar would make buckets of friends in a heartbeat. She would be surrounded with people who admired her and shared her strange brain, I just knew it.

"Real mature, Alyssa."

"Aren't I just, Roselynd?"

I stalked out of the compartment, head held high, as dignified as I could be with so much luggage. Scar followed me, exasperated and growling slightly, and grinned at some of the stragglers in the train carriage. I flipped my hair and stalked out to the platform.

Scarlett sighed as she ran after me. "I wouldn't do this normally, but we shouldn't be fighting on our first day, silly. I'm sorry, your thought process regarding your iPod was absolutely reasonable and sound. Please, just, don't let's fight, okay?"

"Fine," I grumbled, as we made our way into the outside air. There were carriages pulled by huge, strange animals outside – animals that nobody else seemed to see. Figuring that the carriages were the way to get up to the castle, we headed towards them, but were promptly stopped by a professor.

"The Little sisters, I presume?"

We exchanged a glance and nodded. I was sure that the professor was going to say that there was a huge mistake, that we would be arrested for presumptuous behaviour, and that I would have to care for Scarlett from a prison cell… Oh _no. _

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" I squeaked. Wow, there goes my dignity. _Great _start to a new life, Aly.

"If you'll come with me, please." She gestured sharply at a path that led away from the carriages. We followed her to a lake, where there was a giant man showing 11 year olds into rowboats and sending them towards the castle.

"You are the first students to arrive after 1st year to Hogwarts in 126 years. You will need to be sorted into your houses with all the rest of the new students, which will happen after the first year sorting. I will introduce you to the school before this. You will live with the rest of your house. Scarlett, we have placed you with the 5th year students and Alyssa with the 7th year. I am aware of your accelerated skill sets but we want you to assimilate with your peers. You will write the subsequent exams of your year, and you will adhere to the same rules and regulations as any other learners. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," we chorused dutifully.

"What if we are in different houses? Will we be allowed to stay together?" Scarlett looked a bit apprehensive, a sentiment I shared.

"We do not make acceptions, Miss Little. You will live with your house," The woman stated sternly. She bustled off, probably to yell at more innocent schoolchildren.

"She's a bucket of joy, isn't she?" muttered Scarlett, glaring daggers at her back. I nodded, suddenly struck speechless at the notion of being sorted, whatever that meant, in front of the entire school. _How fantastic. _

Didn't this school know that humiliation was deadly in teenage-land? How inconsiderate. I wanted a lawyer.

Telling my sister such, she snorted and gave me an amused look. "They aren't _trying _to humiliate you, Al. This is just what they have to do."

"In front of the whole school?" I whined, knowing I was being petty and not really caring.

"It does kind of suck," she sighed. "I wonder what house we'll be in."

"If we're even _in _the same house," I contributed gloomily.

We started walking closer to the lake, where we would be ushered into a tiny rowboat and on, to what seemed to me would be one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire little life.

I could already see the first years staring at us curiously. Hopefully their gazes were like "Oh, wow, look at the beautiful and goddess-like older girls in all of their glorius perfection! We should be super nice to them and not mess with them!"

As opposed to "Oh, wow, to be only arriving at Hogwarts _now _they must be practically _muggles."_

I love kids, in small doses. I mean, they were super cute. All scared and gangly and confused, wearing robes they were swimming in with their eyes alight with the joy of knowledge to come.

_Focus on that, Aly, not your impending doom. _We sailed along the lake, onto fair Hogwarts castle, and – super great! – I seemed to be developing tunnel vision.

What a start.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The boat ride was mercifully quick. I have to admit, the closer we drew to the high, stone walls of the castle, the more apprehensive I became. I hated being the new girl, which was a position I had been in far too many times in the past. I always ended up making friends whom I ended up loving, and then I had to leave them, convinced that nobody would be able to replace them, and that I would stay in contact with them forever. I always did try to stay in contact, but without fail, very few friends made the effort to do the same. It was enough to make me wary of starting again.

And now, I was being ridiculously worried about a position I had held many times before. Of _course_ I would have friends, right? It would be fine. It was always fine.

Besides, I told myself, _who even needs friends? I can function just fine on my own, thanks. _

God, I was such a liar.

I looked over to Scarlett and saw exactly how excited about this she was. For someone so terrifying usually, it was strange to see her so calm and filled with positive anticipation. I wondered what the different houses symbolized. I wondered what she would be in. Maybe something to do with bravery? If there was even such a house, or if the house structure even followed personal traits. At my old school, you were placed in a house with your siblings, randomly, and all it meant was that's who you would support in games.

I felt like this house structure was slightly more important – from what I understood from the scary professor lady, we would eat with and sleep with our house, and who knows what else.

_Sigh. _

We finally reached the other side of the lake – _I swear I had seen a giant squid in the depths_ – and the first years began to get out of their boats.

"All off that's getting off, I suppose," Scar said with glee.

"Couldn't I have gone to university instead?" I groaned. "I heard rumors of _curfew_."

"Stop being a child, Al!" my sister said cheerfully. "I'm so excited to get sorted! I hear for sorting, you have to do all kinds of exciting and difficult wandwork and –"

"Who did you hear _that _from?" I asked, doubt dripping from my voice like honey off a hive. "D'you really think that they are going to make _eleven year olds _do anything difficult? Us, sure, but –"

The great stone doors creaked open and the stern professor from earlier appeared on the other side of the door. "First years follow me! My name is Professor Greene, and I will bring you to the great hall, where you'll be sorted."

My trunk seemed to sprout legs and begin to walk away. Seeing my confused alarm, Greene told me that the house-elves would take my trunks to my new dormitory once I had been sorted.

Looking at Scarlett, I sighed dramatically, "Such a shame that elves don't look like Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings."

"Can you imagine if they did?" She giggled. "That would be _fantastic._"

Greene shot us a glare. "New students at the back!"

She then dramatically had the doors to the "Great Hall" open and the first years filed through after her.

"Terrance, Macabee." _Hufflepuff!_

"Theodore, Winfred." _Ravenclaw!_

The sorting went as follows: Professor Greene would call out the name of a student, the terrified first year would walk up to a raised platform with a stool, and the hat that had previously been sitting on the stool was placed ceremoniously on the child's head. And then the _hat (THE HAT!) _would yell out a house, either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

Oh, and did I mention that the hat had just sang a song about the four houses and their attributes? _What were these people tripping on?_

Hell, I was here, I had listened to the same song. What was _I _tripping on?

I looked at Scarlett and laughed. "This is insane, bro," I whispered. "I love it. Plus, I told you we wouldn't have to do anything crazy."

She grinned and nodded. "Where do you think I'll be placed?"

"I dunno, kid – Ravenclaw? You're, like, super fucking smart. Or Gryffindor? You are brave to the point of insanity. Remember that hike we took up to the top of the mountain that one time?"

Strangely enough, she made the connection to the right hike. I don't understand how.

At this point, all of the eleven year olds had been called and the entire school was staring at us. Staring as we made them wait for food that should have been on the tables by now. If I were in that position, somebody would probably be grievously wounded.

_How _wonderful.

"School," said the Professor, "These two girls are brand new to Hogwarts. They have been homeschooled in South Africa for the initial part of their magical education and are now joining us in the seventh and fifth year, in which they will write NEWTs and OWLs. I trust that you will afford every kindness and welcome to them. They will now be sorted, like every new Hogwarts student."

Translation: These two girls are the new freaks of Hogwarts. They lived as muggles for, like, _evsies, _and you better not treat them like shit 'cos _shame poor new freaks. _

Hmm. Maybe I was being a bit hard on the poor woman.

"Little, Alyssa," she said, looking at us expectantly.

Ah, the joys of alphabetical order. I pushed my rampant curls out of my face and shot a smirk to Scorpius, whom I had found sitting at a table covered in green and silver, with people whom I had not yet met. He winked at me as I sat on the stool and Greene lowered the talking hat (I was possibly still tripping) onto my head. I wondered where Red and Glass Boy were.

Suddenly, it started to speak in my head. Weird.

_Hm, this too is a difficult match. So guarded, so angry, such potential for being diabolical. And yet such beautiful brains! I think your ambition is overreaching, though. And you feel so lonely… I haven't felt a brain like this in _decades_… I guess I'll have to put you in _SLYTHERIN!

Scorpius's table broke out into cheers and whistles, while the other three tables looked slightly disappointed. I had to admit, that was extremely flattering. Greene nodded with approval and gestured at the table, and I stood up with a flourish and inclined my head at her, noticing that my tie and badge was suddenly green. I swept over to where he was sitting, my robes billowing behind me (I adored the drama of our new uniform) and looked at him when he just laughed at me as I neared the spot.

"Make space, Malfoy," I said flatly, grinning at him with a little half smile, so he would know that my pissy tone was a joke.

He bowed from the waist, as well as he could when he was seated, and scooted down the row, forcing others to bunch up. "Anything for you, sweet Lady."

I broke into a full smile then, because his reference to our childhood games meant that he would not give my friendship up when we were at school. I hoped his word would hold.

Now all I needed was my sister in the same house as me. I watched as she absentmindedly mounted the dais after snapping at Greene ("It's _Scarlett_, actually"), sitting down on the stool, the way I had, mere minutes ago.

The hat took a great deal longer to sort her, at one point opening its slash of a mouth as if about to announce her house, but at her frown, it closed up again.

"Is my sister arguing with a hat?" I asked Scorp, delighted. Oh the jokes I could make about _this!_

"It certainly seems that way," he said lazily.

We high fived. A few other Slytherins gave us confused looks.

Then, without warning, my sister's frown changed to an expression of panic, as the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

My heart sank to the floor as her tie turned to red. _Oh no. How would I function, and how was I supposed to keep her safe from any assholes or bullying if we didn't stick together? Oh, no. _

"It's going to be alright, Al," Scorp said in a soothing voice.

"What? No. This can't be possible. We're too similar; we have to be in the same house. I'll apply for a change, and –"

"You can't, Al, that's not how it works," he murmured. "It's all right, she makes friends quickly, and she is independent. She'll do well. She's suited for it, I think. All honorable and things." He looked at me, sensing a mental breakdown. He knew that, before everything, I would've relished this. But now…

I told myself to stop being so selfish.

"Rose will make sure she's okay, Al. She has a little sister in Scar's year, it'll be okay."

He was still reassuring me as we ate dinner – he ended up saying okay a lot, and patting my shoulder. It was completely ridiculous. I would be fine, and I got over myself quickly after that little bit of panic.

I introduced myself to the people around me. Everyone seemed nice enough, and ridiculously curious about me, and I knew I wouldn't remember any names come morning.

Later that night, one of the girls in my year led me to the common room ("Password is 'Emerald' this week, Alyss," the blonde girl had said with a smile), where I had departed Scorpius and his Slytherin friends (most of whom were quite cute – a definite plus) and up to the dorm, where I had collapsed onto the beautiful green four-poster, suddenly exhausted, wondering what the next day would hold.

I had to admit, I was the tiniest bit excited. But I'd hate to lose my 'don't give a shit' reputation, so don't tell Scar.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I woke up to an annoyed and slightly bitchy brunette hovering over me.

"Wake up, New Girl, and get dressed," she snapped. "Greene has appointed me to be your guide around school for the next few days."

So I figured, you know, that this girl was just grumpy. It _was _a Monday morning, first day of the school year, it was 7 am and the feast after-party (go figure), which I had missed because of my exhaustion, had probably gone on until quite late.

So I took the friendly route with this girl. Might as well try to make friends with the person who was going out of her way to take me to breakfast (otherwise known as, hopefully, the land of coffee and pastries, two of my favourite things).

Blinking owlishly, I smiled up at her. "My name is Alyss, but you can call me Al, if you want. Thanks so much for agreeing to take me around! What's your name?" I stuck out my hand to shake.

She sneered at me in a rather unpleasant manner. "Priscilla. But know this, New Girl. I did not agree to take you around. I was forced. Hurry _up."_

"Yeah, like she would ever agree to take muggle _scum_ around Hogwarts!" one of her friends waiting at the door said mockingly.

Now, I wasn't a temperate person. I hated mornings and I hated them even more when I hadn't yet had a double espresso. One could call me grumpy, but really, I was just a _tad_ tired in the morning. And I really hated being called scum. And I really, _really, _hated being called a muggle like it was derogatory. Like, sorry that I'm more educated than you in muggle schooling matters, Priscilla's rude friend, that I've lived in more cultures that you could even dream of, that I could do more things in a chemistry lab in 5 minutes that you could do in a lifetime. So I was pretty pissed off.

"What did you just call me?" I asked sweetly, glaring at the girl in question. I smiled, although I could feel that it didn't reach my eyes, and I let my anger from the last few months shine through me. _They didn't know what I was capable of._

"Ugh, why are you even still in bed, _freak?_" Priscilla asked me. "Hurry up and do what I say! It's your place."

I looked at her in shock. What these girls were saying was completely disgusting. It was like the epitome of racial discrimination, I supposed, and I couldn't believe that these girls – _these girls who were in my house – _were petty enough to use it as a legitimate insult, especially as it was completely untrue and, well, random.

In my mind, I was hexing them to their knees until they begged for forgiveness. I made them fear my name, and proved to them that I was better at spells and being witchy and things than they were. They learned the error of their ways, and they stopped being bullying bitches.

In the real world, I was fighting tears. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I couldn't bring myself to raise my wand – I was just that shocked. Where did these people get off, saying these things to me? I knew being called a muggle wasn't technically offensive at all, but I was still really hurt somebody. I was sitting in my bed, just having woken up, wearing an old t-shirt of my dad's and leggings, my hair was still a mess, not even wearing my _glasses,_ and they just attacked me.

_What even. _

"Stop!" an outraged voice emanated from our adjacent bathroom. The blonde girl from last night stormed out. She looked perfectly ready to face the day. _How?_

She stormed out of the bathroom, looking murderous. "_You will not be cruel to someone who is in a completely foreign situation and has done nothing to deserve it!"_

"Oh, Cassandra, she was _born. _Don't you think that that's enough?" Priscilla smiled unkindly. "Besides, a mudblood like you hardly has room to speak of such matters." She flipped her hair and turned to me. "Hurry _up._"

Suddenly, I came to my senses. "No thanks, I'd rather not be associated with people so insecure with themselves that they need to be constant bitches. Sorry!" Pretending that there was no possibility of tears, I waved at the discriminative fools like _toodles, amigos!_, and waved my wand, casting a nonverbal spell to make the curtains around my bed swish closed as dramatically as possible. When they had closed, I let the silent tears that I had been holding stream down my cheeks.

"You _have_ to come down to breakfast," she whined, "Or McGonagall, who's the headmistress, and Greene will have my head on a _platter._" _Did she think that guilting me would work?_

I waved my wand again, writing 'Not My Problem, m8', in sparkly letters. Following that message was 'I would reject any tea you tried to offer me'.

What can I say? I was trying to be as Britishly insulting as possible.

The blonde girl – Cassandra – started giggling softly as the horrible girls gasped and slammed the door, probably with their noses stuck in the air. I curled up into a ball, trying not to let my sobs be heard. _How embarrassing. _

"Hey, Alyssa, are you okay?" she asked through my curtains. I hadn't realized that she had come closer to my bed. "Those girls are just jealous, you know. Everyone was excited and talking about your arrival last night at the party and they like to be centre of attention. Plus, you're good friends with Malfoy, according to him, and Prissy over there dated him for about five minutes before he realized what a twat she is. She still likes him, I guess."

"It's Al," I sniffled, cursing my weakness. "and I'm just dandy."

She sighed. "I'm really sorry. Greene actually asked _me_ to keep an eye on you, but those girls really wanted to wreak havoc on your life. I guess they get off on hurting others. Look, I have a schedule for you – we are in a few of the same classes, I can be your partner for some, if you like, and I can bring you down to the Great Hall."

I snaked my arm out of the green velvety curtains around my bedposts to accept the timetable. "That's okay, I'm really not that hungry, thanks. I think I'll just shower and dress and go to class."

"Want me to come pick you up?" she offered.

"That's really okay, thanks, I'll find my way," I insisted. I glanced down at the sheet I was holding. Charms was my first class, and I had to say, I was looking forward to it.

"Will you be able to find the Charms corridor?" Cassandra asked.

"Yeah, totally, don't worry," I said. "I'll find it."

She sighed and I could hear her moving away. "You need anything at all, come find me, and I'll get it done," she calls over her shoulder. "I remember how it is to be thrust into this place after being in the muggle world – it's a lot to take in, and you start to miss social media and electronics _really _quickly. Find me in Charms?"

And then I heard the dorm door clicking shut and I knew I was finally alone. And I stopped being quite so quiet about the homesick, parent-missing, gut-wrenching sobs.


	6. Chapter 6

_**To my reviewers: thank you for reading and enjoying my story! I will keep writing, and I hope you'll like the turns it will end up taking :) **_

_**Guest: there is quite the story behind the deaths, yes ;)**_

Chapter 6

After Cassandra left and my tears ran dry, I straightened up. I still had an hour to kill before class (why everyone was up and ready by 7:15 is a complete mystery to me) and so I jumped into the shower. I decided to pretend that the shower could cleanse all negative energy the mean girls directed at me, and so I took deep breaths and let the scalding water beat at my back and scalp.

I stepped into a (mercifully) empty, overly green dormitory, where I could dress into my uniform in silence. I had taken the precaution of tailoring my uniform before leaving for the train station. The blouse fit me well (_yas), _the skirt wasn't too long (or too short) and I managed not to trip over the robes. This was a serious improvement over my last uniform, which was fifty shades of ill-fitting. I looked at the full-length mirror on my personal cupboard (thank goodness I had one) – my uniform wasn't anything special on me, but at least it was okay. I'd take okay. And I _loved_ the green!

Feeling better already, I gathered a collection of textbooks and notebooks according to my timetable, and put them into my stylish leather shoulder bag. _Ah! _There was nothing like being fashionable. It may have been a bit shallow – Scarlett certainly thought it was pointless – but I always felt a bit better when I looked my best. Grabbing my phone, I tried to turn it on but the rumours about Hogwarts and electronics were true.

Which meant no kindle or talking to my few remaining friends back home via skype. Which meant no Tumblr, or Sherlock marathons…

This wasn't actually a monumental problem, but it felt like Hogwarts was ripping away my last bits of reality, which was kind of awful. I had heard a story of a car being charmed to fly, so maybe if I could take apart my kindle, charm it and put it back together, I would be able to read my good old fiction? I resolved to tinker later, if I had the time.

The common room was also empty, which was confusing. I thought about the times – what was I missing? It was 7:45. Class started at 8:30. The common room was completely empty. Why was everyone gone?

Suddenly, I heard a smooth, male voice behind me. "Hey, you're Alyssa, right?"

I whirled around, taking in the image of a tall, broad shouldered boy with light brown skin, darker brown hair, stubble, regal features and a messy-cool uniform. He smiled lazily at me from his perch on the couch by the roaring fireplace. Well, I supposed not _everyone _was down at breakfast. "It's Al, actually. Who're you?" I scowled.

_Oh my god. Why was my reaction to people trying to meet me so backwards? Scowling was not how you made friends!_

He laughed, and I have to say, it was pretty hot. Think deep and rumbling. "I'm Alonso Rajesh Khan. Seventh year." He was just sitting there, obviously having just been reading.

"Nice to meet you, Khan," I said flatly. "I'm going to class. See you around."

Apparently talking to new people wasn't my strong point. I swept out of the common room as he opened his mouth, intent on exploring a bit (_who was I kidding – I just wanted to be alone)_ and found myself in the dungeons. I needed to find the charms corridor, and I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do that. Muttering 'emerald', I swept back into the common room.

"Erm, sorry, but could you just point me in the direction of the Charms corridor?" I asked.

Khan looked up from his book and grinned. "I could bring you there if you wanted –"

"No thanks," I interrupted, "I want to find my own way."

So he pointed me in the direction of the Charms corridor, and wrote down directions on a spare piece of parchment he had.

Muttering my thanks, I escaped back into the dungeons. I picked a direction and started walking. The castle was beautiful, and so vast! It was ridiculous, but I felt like a princess, living among my court. The corridors were lined with old pictures that moved and chatted to one another, and I could feel the possibility of secret passages in the walls.

Suddenly, I stopped. Were those _voices_ behind me? They were laughing, and sounded flirtatious and rather like a couple trying to find a room. _Oh no, that would be so awkward to stumble across._

I thought I hadn't gone far, but it seemed (when I took in the sights around me) that I had gone up several flights of stairs and taken several turns in the wrong direction. I was completely muddled, and was sure that I was a _long_ way from the Charms corridor. How stressful. But the voices were getting closer, and I needed a place to hide. OMG.

Where I was, there were several classrooms that I could have hidden in, but there was a specific one at the end of the corridor that seemed to call me, like, _I am your sanctuary, oh awkward teenager! Hide in my depths! _

So, you know, I did. Wrenching the door open, I turned around and was relieved when I saw a keyhole. Phew! The couple wouldn't be able to get in. Relaxing, I turned around to the rest of the room and _gasped._

This… this was impossible. There was no way that this room should've existed; it was a part of my past.

See, back home, I had access to the most incredible library in the world. It was warm, and inviting, and it wasn't just a library. There were a million different genres of book, and it was laid out so beautifully. There were shelves of books everywhere and on top of that, enough plants to make it qualify as an indoor greenhouse or forest. It had a glass roof and wifi and little secluded reading spaces of all sizes. There was even a cafeteria.

And when I was in there… well, imagine the happiest place you've ever been. It might have been Disney world, you best friend's house, your bed, in the arms of your partner, a person – whatever. Think of how happy you were when you were in that space. You know that feeling of complete safety and overwhelming love? That's how I felt when I was in the Library.

_And Hogwarts had one. _I gaped, overwhelmed and unable to comprehend how it was possible. The Library was quieter than I had ever seen – no hushed patrons, carefully sipping lattes, no vigilant librarians, patrolling the stacks. It was so incredibly _strange. _I was standing in my very own Library, and I was happier than I had been in six months.

Suddenly, something caught my eye. There was a portrait on one of the walls that wasn't there before. I walked towards it, frowning, and gasped. It was a painting of my parents, and it was _moving. _They were smiling down at me, and it was like being hugged from beyond the grave. I felt a surge of confidence about everything going on at Hogwarts.

You know what? I actually felt like everything would be okay.

I headed down to the cafeteria, where there was a coffee machine and I would be able to organize myself breakfast. On the table next to the espresso maker was the book that I was currently reading on my Kindle – the same one that I had lamented the loss of not minutes earlier.

Huzzah! This was quite the room.

Suddenly, there was rattling on the door. Thank goodness I had locked it!

"Come _on, _Room!" A boy was muttering, trying to get the door open. "Why are you locked?"

A girl's voice, sharper than the boy's and far more annoying, giggled loudly and then called out, "Whoever locked this up, let us in! We need a spot to make out!"

"Gretel!" The boy hissed. "Honestly. I told you I just wanted to talk."

I could practically hear her pout. "I'll go scout for teachers and _unlocked _rooms while you get this one open, okay?" Her footsteps echoed off the stone floor leading away from my Library.

"Hey!" The boy's voice sounded. "Hey, whoever's there, please let me in." There was a pregnant pause as I tried to pretend to not exist. He sighed, and whispered loudly, "Please? I'm trying desperately to escape from the girl I was with, she was driving me nuts."

I tiptoe over to the door and see that there is a peephole on the door. I hadn't noticed that before. Looking through it, I realized that the voice belonged to Albus Severus.

"Fine," I said, oddly bothered by the fact that he was with another girl. Not that I should be bothered – I mean, I had barely just met him. "Only if you promise not to break anything this time."

"Alyssa?" He said, but I was already opening the door. "Thank you so _much _you are my favourite person in the entire world and it is only day 1. I will repay you sometime soon and –"

He had swept me into an overwhelming hug, but dropped me as soon as he saw the library and the book next to my coffee. "Is that _Little Brother_? I loved the book! Didn't entirely understand it, because I know so little about muggle technology, but the parts about freedom were awe-inspiring and I could really connect to the main character – _Oh, _is that the Great Gatsby?" And on he went, looking at and identifying various different parts of my library while I stared at him, bemused. He was such an adorable dork.

_Wait, adorable? _Yes, silly inner voice. Adorable. Had you not seen the hair, the eyes, the biceps, the height? Had you not noticed the gangly ineptitude and the obsession with literature?

I snapped back to the present, in which Albus Potter had just interrupted my private sanctum – the most personal thing in my life at Hogwarts, because it was so very _my space. _"Wait, glass boy. What exactly are you _doing _in my Library?"

"Glass Boy? Your Library? I needed a place to hide, Alyssa. And the Room of Requirement gave it to me." He smiled from his place in the stacks.

"The room of Requirement?" I felt stupid and confused. What had he called my Library?

"Yes. The Room gives you what you need the most. See?" And, as he said it, a pocket watch appeared in my hand.

I glanced down, flabbergasted. It was so beautiful, with circle gallifreyan on one of the sides. I laughed to myself. I was _obviously _a Time Lord, according to this watch. The Room must have adapted to my likes and dislikes. "Why did you need a place to hide?"

He shuddered. "My ex-girlfriend wanted to talk, but that just means 'make-out', and I'd rather not go down that road, thanks."

We heard her footsteps come back to the corridor. "Allllllbie, where areeeeee you?" she sang.

"Hopefully she'll go away," He whispered, panicked.

She did.

"So why did you need a watch, New Girl?" Albus was suddenly cheerful, and grinned mischievously once again.

I smiled tentatively. "I don't know. I found this place on the way to the Charms corridor, and –"

I glanced at the now open watch, and gasped. It was nearly 8:30, which meant I should be waiting by my classroom already.

"I have to go to Charms," I groaned. "But I don't know where it is. This place won't disappear if I leave, will it?"

"No, you'll be able to come back, hopefully," Albus said comfortably. "I'll take you to Charms, I think I have that subject with you." He jumped up – I hadn't even realized he was sitting – and opened the door to peek furtively outside. "Coast is clear! Come along."

And so he ferried me off to Charms, keeping me bemused by his persona as ever.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We arrived outside Charms and I could barely breathe.

This was due to one of two reasons:

We had to walk a loooooong way to get here from the Room of Requirement. Seriously. Think bazillions of stairs, several light years and a few hundred corridors to get here. Plus, I've never been that fit. At all.

Albus had not stopped making me laugh since we left the Room. He was the most ridiculous person I had ever met. He had fed me bad jokes and hilarious one-liners and, if I did say so myself, I had been able to hold my own in the comebacks area. Honestly. We were such a witty pair.

I finally realized that we were outside of Charms and that we were about a quarter of an hour late. _Oh dear. _I had to walk into that classroom, probably with the entire class staring at me, and be in trouble with the teacher because of my lateitude and –

Wait, I didn't care about being in trouble. That was old me. This is _moi_. I knocked on the door confidently and shot a smile back at Albus. He looked at me worriedly as we heard a very high-pitched "Come in!"

The teacher was standing on a stack of cushions in the front of the class, the class was made up of a mix of Slytherins and Gryffindors, and everyone was staring at me.

"And why," the teacher said slowly – threateningly – "are you so late?"

This was it. Time to get out of my first punishment. I saw Albus open his mouth and shook his head.

"I'm _so _sorry, sir!" I widened my eyes to make myself look more innocent. I needed to seem as sweet and loveable as can be. "I'm new here, and on the way from my dormitory, I became horribly lost. This is just such a big castle! I wasn't expecting it to be so difficult to find your class. I became so lost and was so aware of the time that I haven't even eaten yet. Anyway, I found myself up in a room _filled _with owls –" I really hoped Hogwarts had one of those – "and so I sent a message to my friend Albus here –" I gestured at him – "and he was kind enough to come find me. I know it isn't an excuse, I should have owled somebody earlier I'm just _so very stubborn,_ you see, and hate having to rely on others to help me. It's my fatal flaw."

I hung my head, so _very _ashamed of myself, while Albus looked at me in astonishment. I was a really good liar, and teachers were usually putty in my hands.

The teacher's attitude had changed considerable in this speech of mine. He was sympathetic, and welcoming. "Of course, my dear. It must be so very hard to join so late!" I nodded sadly.

"And Albus! How good of you to help her out. Take a seat, both of you, and lets get on with class!"

Albus clapped me on the back with a nearly inaudible "Good job, New Girl," and went on to sit with Scorpius, one of the two empty seats left. Scorp shot me an apologetic look and I jerked my head in forced nonchalance. The other seat was next to Cassandra, luckily, and so I quickly took it. As I sat down, she looked at me, smirked, and whispered, "Good save." I nodded at her, grinning.

As the class went on, I sat in the desk next to Cassandra in resignation. She was sitting and taking notes, despite seeming completely bored. I had covered silencing charms and nonverbal spells when I was thirteen, so I basically just read _Little Brother _under my desk.

Suddenly, a piece of parchment appeared on my desk. _The Owlrey, hmmmmm?_

I didn't recognize the handwriting. Looking around, only Cassandra was looking at me. In fact, she was wiggling her eyebrows and looking between Albus and me suggestively. I laughed silently – I was wrong in thinking that she was paying attention. How interesting.

Looking back at the note, I grabbed a quill. This lesson was about to get far more interesting.

**Totally not how it sounds. Today's my first day, what do you take me for, Cassandra?**

_Well, I don't actually know, Alyssa. But if you bagged Albus in the Owlrey on Day 1, I'd have to be your friend by _law.

I laughed. This girl was completely crazy. I could tell she was kidding, partially, and I couldn't help but want to be her friend on the spot.

**I DID NOT BAG ALBUS IN THE OWLREY.**

Looking over at her, I could see her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

As we were released from class, we gathered up our books and wands. I looked over at Cassandra. "It's Al, actually. Only my mother called me Alyssa because Al made me sound like 'a common lorry driver' or something."

"In that case, call me Cass, hey?" she grinned. "C'mon, we have several other classes to get through before lunch. By the way, did you get breakfast?"

I realized I hadn't. Albus distracted me from my food when he barged into the Room. I shook my head mournfully.

She looked at me, horrified. "It's a good thing I grabbed you a croissant."

"I may have just met you, Cass, but I love you," I exclaimed, taking the bag adoringly.

"Oh, no!" Scorpius said, coming up behind me with Albus in tow. "Am I being replaced already?"

"And me?" Albus complained. "Your hero, your white knight, coming to your rescue? Surely I can't be replaced!" He turned to Scorp and hugged him, fake-crying on his shoulder and we looked on in amusement. It was incredibly comical to watch the tall boy bend to reach Scorpius's stocky shoulder.

"Neither of you brought me food on my first day," I stated. "You don't get status without food."

"I'll strive to be better, I swear!" Albus sobbed dramatically. I bit my lip to keep from giggling.

The rest of the classes before lunch were pretty basic – Transfiguration, which I usually have some trouble with but was able to do relatively well at Hogwarts and Potions, a class that I was sure would fast become my favourite. Just before lunch, though, I had a class called Alchemy, which I had chosen because it sounded so very interesting. It turned out that it was a tiny class, with a mix of students from all houses. Of my (tentative) new friendships, Albus was the only one who I shared the class with.

The professor was a bit wild looking, with a hippie-like vibe coming off her and a huge amount of energy. Her name was Professor Chakra, and her brown curls stood almost perpendicular to her head. I was fascinated as soon as we walked into class, and she had us all move our desks into a circle and discuss our knowledge of Nicholas Flamel. Since the class was a NEWT level only class, I didn't need to introduce myself – everybody was new in the class, and it felt fantastic not to be singled out by another teacher.

After a rather entertaining class discussion about the pros and cons of immortality, Albus and I walked to lunch.

"Hey, Potter," I said, nudging him with my elbow. "What do you call a sick alchemist?"

His eyes lit up as he turned to me, eager to hear the rest of the joke. "What?"

"Nicholas Phlegm-el," I said, cracking myself up. I giggled at my own joke, fully expecting him to write it off as a bit lame. Instead, he burst into peals of unrestrained laughter and high-fived me several times.

"I'm going to use that!" he crowed, and we continued down the corridor to lunch.

When we arrived in the Great Hall, I was starting to get really hungry. "Is this where we part, Albus?"

"Actually, call me Al," he said happily. "My nickname is the same as yours."

"Sure, why not?" I lightly punched his shoulder. "It means that you are super cool, just like me!"

"Exactly." We grinned at each other, and I was glad that my day was turning out to be far better than I expected. "Actually, no. At lunch, the Great Hall isn't separated between houses. We can sit where ever we like, to promote house unity."

"Cool!" I said enthusiastically. Then I realised that he hadn't exactly invited me to sit with him, and I didn't know who he sat with, and I spent a good thirty seconds stressing about the dynamics of friendships at Hogwarts."

He obviously saw me come to an awkward halt at the entrance. "You should sit with us, of course, Al. I'm pretty sure if Scorpy saw me let you sit alone, he would disembowel me."

I heaved an internal sigh, relieved. _Play it cool, Little. _"Oh, okay. I just don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense!" he said. "Any friend of Scorpius is a friend of mine!"

We were the first to the lunch table, and so we sat and continued to make ridiculous bad jokes to pass the time. I thought that life probably wouldn't be too boring with Albus around.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chilling with Albus before lunch was fantastic. There was no other way to put it. I had never laughed so much in my entire life, he was super similar to me, _and _he was cute. But despite everything, I would probably find out that he had a long-standing girlfriend or that he was gay.

Wait. Why would I care? I didn't like him like that. Besides, it was my first day at Hogwarts and I needed to restrain my ridiculous hormones. _Jeez. _

We must have been let out of Alchemy early because only after ten minutes did people start to trickle into the Great Hall. As people started to gather at the tables around us, food started to appear on the tables around us.

Ah, the Hogwarts food! How delightful it was. I could wax eloquent about the succulent beauty of the dishes, and the heavenly feelings of happiness I felt when eating it. It was like a gourmet restaurant - _all the time. _

Although, it _was_ possible that I was just really hungry.

Rose came to sit across from Albus and me as the food began to appear on plates in front of us. I hadn't really been able to get to know her just yet, but I hoped I would very soon. Scorpius's group, whom I had accidentally assimilated with upon arrival, were kooky and wonderful, just like me. I wanted to make sure that I was friends with them all. I mean, I may have made friends with Albus and Cassandra almost instantly, but that was purely because they forced me to by talking to me and joking with me and teasing me right away.

Not that I was complaining, obviously

If people didn't talk to me first, I generally didn't talk to them first. People were scary, you see, and the utter cold rejection by Priscilla, no matter how ridiculous and cruel it was, was fresh in my mind. I didn't want to risk anything like it happening again.

It was possibly this mind-set that made me seem cold and aloof at my old school.

Rose seemed kind of quiet, and smiled at us when she arrived at the lunch table. She asked us how Alchemy turned out, and Albus launched into an adorably enthusiastic play-by-play of the entire lesson. I became quiet, nodding along to his narrative and making noises of affirmation when he looked at me with wide eyes. He continued to gesture wildly, almost knocking over a tureen of stew next to him, and Rose caught my eye and grinned tentatively. I smiled back, hoping this meant that she wasn't averse to an extra member in their little group.

Turning around, I saw Scarlett waltz into the Great Hall with a group of rowdy Gryffindor 5th years. Her hair was up in her signature ponytail, she was laughing, and she was speaking at a decibel that was possibly illegal in certain countries. All at the same time!

I excused myself from Albus and Rose, and made my way over to the loud bunch. As I was walking away, I heard Albus ask Rose with unbridled glee, "What do you call a sick alchemist?"

He was using my joke! How delightful.

"Sorry," I interrupted Scarlett's friends, "But can I borrow my sister for just a minute?" I smiled winningly and grabbed Scarlett's arm. "We won't be too long!"

Without giving them a chance to complain (although they seemed so shell-shocked at the sight of me that I don't think they would've been able to) I ferried Scar out of the Great Hall and hugged her fiercely.

"So, you made friends," I said teasingly. "How long did that take? Thirty six seconds?"

Her eyes widened and she blinked at me owlishly. "You're jolly this morning!"

I smiled sweetly. "I also made friends. I'm even going to sit with them! I mean, sure, I was already friends with Scorpius, but Albus is hilarious –"

"And cute," she interjected teasingly.

I glared at her. "And Cassandra is wonderful too! And Rose seems nice, although I haven't really gotten to know her yet."

"Ooh, what's this about _friends? _Didn't you swear that this school would be like the last few?" She smirked. I scowled.

"It doesn't matter," I said quickly. "In fact, I've already identified the bitches in my dorm."

I told her the story of my unfortunate encounter with Priscilla, and she looked positively murderous. "Why, that little—"

"No, no, it's alright, Scar," I said soothingly. "I'm okay. I don't need her kindness." _Lies. _

She still looked like she was about to go hex something to death. I quickly changed the subject. "So why did your new friends look so surprised that I came over to talk to you? Have you been telling them lies about me already?" I smiled charmingly. Oooooh, instead of hearing about how Scar's friends already hated me, I could be eating lunch. Maybe there was pasta! _Pasta._

Scarlett's voice broke me out of my reverie. "Oh, some old, silly rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It's supposed to be banished by now but they really seem to think that we shouldn't talk very much because we're in different houses." Her voice lowered to a scandalized pitch and she waggled her eyebrows at me in mocking excitement. "_Obviously, _being family means _nothing _if you wear different colours."

I laughed. We continued to swap stories about our first mornings ("_Defence_ in front of people I can show off in front of, Al! They asked me to show what I could do and so I did a Patronus. You should have _seen _their faces!"), and talked about our various friendship groups. Apparently, Scar's were a large mix of muggleborns and purebloods, but the purebloods had all been fully corrupted by the muggleborns' favourite T.V. series. Sherlock, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Merlin? They all were absolutely obsessed.

Scarlett was a good fit.

We had been talking for twenty minutes when my stomach growled. "Go eat," Scarlett laughed. "I'll see you tonight."

As I watched her walk away, I realized that I hadn't told her about the Room of Requirement.

Maybe some things were just meant to stay secret.

I headed back to the lunch table, where Cassie had sat down next to Rose and was digging into a rather delicious looking meal. Wraps? Yes _please. _I took my seat next to Albus, who was, once again, enthusiastically recounting the Alchemy joke I had told him earlier.

"Nicholas Phleme-al!" He chortled. The girls groaned.

"Where did you get that?" Cassie demanded.

"That is truly terrible, especially the second time, you big lout," Rose said, exasperated.

"Twas me! Guilty as charged," I said cheerfully, helping myself to a steaming plate of pasta with bacon-Alfredo sauce.

"No!" The girls groaned. "Don't encourage him, Alyssa," Rose begged. She widened her eyes dramatically and choked back a laugh. "_Please!"_

"You're just jealous," Albus announced. "That joke is absolutely brilliant."

"Hey, where's Scorp?" I asked, my mouth full of creamy comfort food. "He should be around here somewhere. I've never known him to miss a meal." I was hoping that he would show up. The spotlight was on me –_ curse my incessant talking_ – and I needed backup, or a comfort zone. Scorp was both.

"That's because I'm a growing boy!" said a pouting voice behind me.

Phew. Speak of the devil.

"My _darling!" _Albus crowed happily, spinning in his chair and winking at Scorpius. "How _are _you?"

"I'm brilliant, sweet," said Scorp, just as lovingly. Their antics made me laugh – it was seldom to find two boys so comfortable with themselves that they could joke around _all the time. _

He walked over to the other side of the table, while greeting the rest of us. "Alyss, _glorious one, _how was your first day?" He fluttered his eyelashes at me. "Cassie, beautiful!" He was finally at the other side of the table. Suddenly, his always-present over-flirtatious demeanour dropped. "Hey, Rose," he said, smiling sweetly down at her.

Hmmmm. I sensed a romance budding. How interesting. How cute!

He snapped out of it. "Cassie, darling, would you budge up? I'm sitting next to Rose."

Rose blushed fiercely, and the joking demeanour that I had only just discovered in her had vanished.

There were two complaints at the same time:

Albus: "But _darling, _why can't you sit next to me? Why would you abandon me for another? And worst of all, my _cousin?" _He sighed dramatically and threw his face onto my shoulder. I froze. But he totally didn't need to know that.

Cassie: "I see where I'm not wanted!" She huffed jokingly and leapt out of her seat, a clean plate in front of her, and winked lasciviously at us. "It doesn't matter, though. I'm finished, and that means I'm off to meet someone!" She scampered off, cackling, as she probably contemplated our utter confusion and amusement.

So we turned back to our food, everyone – even me! – resigned to Cassie's utter weirdness. Scorpius turned back to softly speaking with a confused Rose, and I turned back to my wonderful pasta.

Conclusion, day 1, lunch: Albus was insane but hot (I'm not complaining), Cassandra was mysterious and insane, Scorp was slowly _going_ insane,and Rose was adorable and possibly the most sane of us all.

I liked these crazy people. 

* * *

><p><em>Hello, lovely readers! <em>I'm _really very sorry about how long it took to update. I had a hectic week - and it might continue to be hectic. I'm sorry if it becomes a habit - I will try to update weekly._

_Much love,_

_SarWolf_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After Lunch, Rose and I split up with the boys to go to Ancient Runes, a class which Albus dubbed 'too boring for words' and Scorpius refused to comment on, instead staring at us with unmasked horror. Cheerfully waving goodbye to them, and seemingly recovered from her earlier shyness, Rose grinned at me. "Come along, New Girl. We have Runes to memorize."

I walked quickly beside her, hoping that this sudden outwardness would last. Rose seemed cool, and Scorp seemed to like her, and if Scorp was flirting with her with that intensity, it was my _business _to know her.

"So, Alyss, have you ever done Runes before? During homeschooling?" She seemed to want to make small talk, so I obliged her.

"Yeah, I studied all the subjects Hogwarts offers except Alchemy and Muggle Studies," I said pleasantly. "Muggle Studies seemed silly because we were living like muggles, and they didn't offer Alchemy back in the day – or at least, my dad didn't take it. But basically, we did everything else." I shrugged. "My dad started us as soon as we could really understand what magic was, and my mom wanted us to go to muggle school, so we were easily able to finish the syllabus. I wrote my OWLs when I was thirteen, but I've yet to write my NEWTs."

"That's so cool!" Rose enthused. "I know so little about muggle life, because my entire family are wizards! The Potter-Weasley clan." She shook her head mournfully. "But I've always wanted to actually learn what its like to _be _a muggle, you know? Not the stuff that we learn in Muggle Studies, that can't be how it really is."

I checked my timetable. "I'm also taking Muggle Studies, for a laugh, you know? Maybe we can convince the teacher to let us go to London – Muggle London – for a day or two, we could stay at the Leaky Cauldron, and we could explore it the Muggle Way! That would be interesting. Maybe we could take the entire year, as an exposure project, hmm?"

Her eyes lit up. "I love it! I'll suggest it to the Headmistress next heads meeting!" Practically skipping, she led me to the Runes classroom, and ushered me to a table for three.

"Are we still waiting on somebody?" I asked. I hoped she wasn't scary. I hoped she talked to me.

"Just Cassie, the big weirdo," Rose said affectionately. "We'll have to ask her who she ditched us to shag."

"How can you _not _when it's so damn fun?" Cassie smirked from behind us and gracefully took her seat. "Fantastic! A class with just us girls! It's so difficult to gossip properly with the boys around. So, Rose," and with this, she waggled her eyebrows suggestively. I stifled a giggle and Rose sighed. "Scorpius, hmmmmm?"

Rose shook her head. "Oh, no, Cassie, you're not getting away that easily. Who's your… friend?"

Cassie shrugged. "Devon Wiltchire, tall year seven, gorgeous blue eyes. And we did not _shag. _It was lunch break, and that's just not classy."

"Sure, slut," Rose said with laughing eyes. "_That's_ why." Her eyes slowly widened. "Devon the _Hufflepuff, _Devon?"

Cassie harrumphed. "Yes, the _Hufflepuff. _What's wrong with that?"

Rose put her hands up, like, I surrender! "Nothing at all. Go for it! You guys would be cute."

I interrupted them with a growing sense of confusion, remembering how Scar's friends had been so surprised with me talking to her, and linking that with the whole Hufflepuff thing.

"Guys," I said slowly, "What is with this whole focusing on what house you are in? Surely that means nothing but what house you are in? Surely your house means nothing but where you'll sleep, what team you'll support in sports and who you do classes with?"

The girls looked at me with wide eyes. "I keep forgetting that this is your first day. You seem like you know everything else already! How has nobody filled you in?" Rose asked indignantly.

I shrugged. "I dunno, its all a bit of a blur, to be honest."

Cassie cut a look to Rose and sighed. "Malfoy should have explained this. You're assigned to a house according to personality and bloodlines, so it was surprising when you, who grew up in the muggle world and seemed so lovely was put into Slytherin. Lots of dark wizards hail from our house, and the rest of us tend to not really associate with others. We are a few of the exceptions. Plus, there is a deep-seated Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry that the school has tried time and time again to abolish – and it has worked on some. But others are prejudiced and awful, you know?"

I nodded. That made sense – and explained Scarlett's friends' shocked and nervous looks at me. _But how rude!_

"So, anyway," I said, switching from the subdued feeling to one more playful. I nudged Cassie with my foot and we turned to look at Rose, who blushed scarlet and fidgeted uncomfortably. "D'you want to tell us about what lunch was about, dear, sweet Rose?"

It was then, unfortunately, that the professor came in and told us to take out our notebooks – time for a lecture on the Unforgivable curses. Tomorrow would be a duelling and practical lesson. Groaning, we complied, but Cassie and I were happy with the chance to interrogate Rose. As the professor droned on about the Curses, we stared at Rose until her shoulders slumped, defeated by our silent battle, and began to write on a piece of parchment. Finishing, she gave it to us with a look of pure 'I hope you're happy.'

_I didn't even realise he liked me like that, guys! Seriously, day one of 7__th__ year and he just kinda…sat next to me and I really don't know how to react to the boy who used to pull my hair hitting on me! And now, he's being obvious and… should I just kiss him? I bet he's a good kisser. _

_Not that it matters, I'm not even sure that I like him like that! What do I do? -RW_

She looked at us with pleading eyes, her face and ears as crimson as her hair.

_**He is. -AL**_

**He is what, Alice? –CF**

_**Actually, it's Alyss. Pronounced the same, though. **_

**Right, sorry. Is what?**

_Yes, is what?_

_**A good kisser. He was my first kiss. When we were fourteen, we wanted to get it over with and so we had a really awkward first kiss.**_

Their astonished faces were hilarious to behold. Rose was scandalized and Cassie was delighted.

**Now that you mention it, he was a bit of a slut in 5****th**** and 6****th**** year. Probably because of you.**

Rose looked even more upset.

_6__TH__ YEAR WAS LAST YEAR, CASSIE! YOU AREN'T HELPING._

Cassie was laughing.

**Fine, fine. Just see where it goes, Rose. It's totally fine! Plus, from a totally non-bias point of view, he's kinda hot.**

I nodded in agreement.

_**Plus, I've never seen him like I saw him today at lunch. It was like a total change in person! See how it goes, Rose. But don't lead him on, okay? He's my best friend and I won't see him hurt.**_

_I won't. I wouldn't do that to him. I promise._

_**Cool. **_I nodded. _**You'll be cute together!**_

The lesson began to let out, and the girls and I grabbed our things and left.

"One more lesson, guys! Should I incinerate this parchment?" Cassie skipped ahead as she began to do just that. We had Potions next, and that was right next to the dungeons. Excellent! Maybe I could take a nap afterwards. Naps were good.

When we arrived in the dungeons, we gathered around a table with the boys. Malfoy, I noted affectionately, looked dorkily excited, while Albus was poking a cauldron moodily as if it had done something to offend him personally. I grinned at him and gave Scorp a high five.

"Remember that time we melted a cauldron in your backyard?" he said happily. "Your mom was so mad! I dibs you as a partner if we need, man. Potions buddy for life!" He nodded sagely and looked at all of the others. "Cheerio, suckers! We're going to some prizes, bitches!"

"They don't give out prizes for bad potions, you asshole deserter," Cassie said, amused.

"Yeah, if you guys are _bad _when you do potions together, would it make sense to partner?" Albus asked.

"We're not _bad _at potions!" I was indignant. "We melted that cauldron when we were twelve! We went on to make polyjuice, thank you very much."

I tossed my head and scooted next to Scorp. "Potions buddy for life!"

"Hell yeah!" We high fived again.

And then, the potions master walked it. _Oh my GAWD. _He… was beautiful. He couldn't have been more than 25, and he swept in as we were beginning to gather our supplies on our desks. His hair was spiky, long and kind of messy. He exuded "leather jacket and motorcycle."

"Is that… our teacher?" I was pleasantly surprised. Potions would certainly be entertaining this year.

Both the boys were glowering at him and Cassie and Rose had straightened up and were smiling.

"It certainly _is."_ Cassie looked at him possessively and Rose blushed brightly again. "He arrived last year, and he's _very _young. And a bit of a treat, if I do say so myself."

"Wow, Cass," I said happily. "Got to him already?"

"Actually, not yet," She said unhappily, "But I'm working on it."

"I thought you were hung up on the Hufflepuff?" Rose asked.

Albus and Scorpius were suddenly in overprotective mode. "What Hufflepuff?"

Cassie ignored them. "I'd make an exception."

Suddenly, he spoke. His voice was like warm velvet and chocolate and honey. "Partner up – pop quiz time. Make me a Pepper-Up to prove that you didn't become complete imbeciles over the summer. Go."

I turned to Scorpius. "Set up the cauldron and I'll grab ingredients?"

"Sweet." He was definitely the best partner.

I ran to get the ingredients and greeted the Professor while I was doing so. He regarded me with a strange look and went back to his _Daily Prophet. _

Pepper-up was easy - we had mastered it when we were fourteen – and I grabbed the ingredients and had them on the table before most of the class had paired off. Scorpius and I fell into a familiar rhythm of cutting, stirring and crushing ingredients into the potion. Not surprisingly, I had to admit. This had been our favourite way of passing the time for pretty much six or seven years, and the number of times we had done Pepper-up was embarrassing.

Our baby was simmering within a half hour. All we had to do was wait another 10 minutes with a low heat, and we were golden.

Finally looking up, I noticed that Cassie had disappeared. I frowned, and scanned the room for the familiar face. When I finally did find her, I had to chuckle to myself. She was sitting at a table at the back of the room with a cute, dark Hufflepuff boy. Every time they had an exchange, she would be decidedly flirtatious. It was hilarious – especially since it made the Hufflepuff boy seem to fumble more often than not.

I looked over to Rose and Albus, the latter of whom seemed to be struggling with the simple instructions given by an exasperated Rose. Getting her attention, I nodded over to Cassie's back table. "She works fast, hey?"

"She always has," Rose giggled, and then turned away to keep Albus from stoking the fire to a dangerous level.

I turned back to Scorpius. "Another day, another victory, hey?" We were both smug about our beautiful little potion as we took the cauldron off the fire and watched it turn the prettiest shade of lavender.

Bottling it, Scorpius grinned at me. "Shall we take it up to Professor Attbury and _then _clean up our space?"

"Absolutely," I smirked.

We traipsed to the front of the class to where Attbury was still reading his _Prophet. _As we arrived, he looked up and accepted the potion from me. Regarding us, he opened the stopper and tasted it, raising his eyebrows at the perfection of our brew.

"As I expected from you, Malfoy," He drawled. "How much did your pretty little muggle companion actually do? It seems just like you to take the new girl under your wing."

My cheeks flushed. Asshole. I was better at Scorpius at most Potions, and it was due to our collective efforts that this potion turned out so well. And I was _not _a muggle. I was as competent, if not better than, most of the kids at this school. "Hey! I –"

"Actually, the effort was mainly hers. Alyss and I go way back, Professor, our families are friends, and I know her well enough to say that she is _super _bossy. And you have to listen, because she's usually right," Scorpius interrupted me and stopped me from being rude and indignant, and his tone was polite, but his stance was rigid, and his fists clenched. I nudged his arm with my elbow to try to get him to snap out of it, because punching a teacher was bad.

"I'm sure." Attbury sounded dubious, and I resolved to prove to him my potions prowess next time we had a singles assignment.

We went back to the table to clean up the workspace as the rest of the class handed in their assignments. At last! We were free to do whatever the hell we wanted for the rest of the afternoon!

When we all left as a group, claiming Cassie from her beau (or perhaps rescuing him from her slightly evil clutches) we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon out in the sun.

Rose pulled me aside as we were making our way down the lake to hang out. "I heard what Attbury said, and no matter how cute he is, I want you to know that that kind of logic doesn't even cross our minds, Alyss. He was just being an idiot. I promise, you've got us. You're one of us."

I smiled at her, glad to know that I was accepted here – that I had automatic friends here, even if – dare I even think it? – their friendships may be slightly too good to be true.

Pushing that though aside, we rejoined the others, who had been running and frolicking and shouting (Rose had yelled after them to _act their bloody ages!)_, soaking in the leftovers of waning fall sunlight, and I told myself that I _would _be happy here.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, lovlies! So, I'm sure you'll laugh at me, but I totally only _just _realized how to properly put this comment up (without accidentally stumbling across it - I found it because i was looking this time! And will be able to easily find it again ;) ). Sorry for not doing this in previous chapters. **

**Just wanted to let you know that I am writing finals at the moment so my chapters _might _be a little less regular. I'm really, really sorry (pleaaaaasseeee don't hate me). **

**I hope you enjoy this one - I wanted to start shedding some light on the mystery around the Little parents' deaths. **

**xoxox**

**Sarwolf**

* * *

><p>Chapter 10<p>

And so the weeks wore on and I settled into life as a Hogwarts student. I settled into my classes (excelling in all of them, of course) and my little group of friends. It was unfortunate, but our packed schedules ensured that Scar and I didn't see each other very often, which meant that we made sure to carve out a specific amount of time every week to hang out – mainly in the astronomy tower, where we had found a tiny spot of relatively reliable wifi, allowing us to catch up on our shows, dish about our weeks and laugh as we used to.

In fact, things had become downright normal – even _busy. _I had no time to think about my parents, which made me feel even guiltier than usual, or worry about what a bitch Priscilla was. I was swamped with more homework that I knew what to do with, and even though it was easy, it was such a _mission _to get through. The stress was something I understood, and could deal with, though. After nearly seventeen years of leading a double life, I was starting to get used to dealing.

And I was dealing, or so I thought.

Until the supremely annoying and embarrassing happened. Before I had come to Hogwarts, I had repetitive horrible dreams – but I could never remember the details. I figured it was about the awful night of my parents' death, but only because Scar had to crawl into my bed to stop me from screaming. I, apparently, talked in my sleep, and the words that I said ranged from "Mom! Dad! No!" to "I'm so sorry, please wake up."

I hadn't had one of these awful night terrors since a week before Hogwarts, but about a month after arriving, I (apparently) had another one.

To be honest, I couldn't remember much, except the overwhelming terror, the oppressive heat from the night that must have translated into the dream, and screaming until my throat was hoarse.

I woke up in the hospital wing the next morning to my sister sitting by my and watching me worriedly and Scorpius sleeping in a chair with his head of the foot of my bed, a ragged voice and shaking limbs the only clue as to what had happened the night before.

"Scar? What happened? Why am I here?" I croaked, looking around, and wincing at the pain in my head.

She cocked her head at me. "You seemed to be awake when we brought you here, but I knew you wouldn't remember anything. I thought this had stopped, Aly. You _said _it had stopped!"

"Um, not technically said so _explicitly, _Scarlett." I coughed, trying to make my voice less gravelly. "And it had stopped. I haven't had an episode for ages."

"Don't you think this has gone on long enough?" Scar asked me exasperatedly. "Come on, I've been your nursemaid for long enough to get an explanation of these crazy things. _Honestly._"

"Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you, then," I snapped. "I won't trouble you like this again. Why am I even here in the hospital wing? I'm not sick!" I tried to get up from the awful bed, longing for my double back in South Africa – in my green room, with my cool, hipster-y decorations. As I shifted my legs, Scorpius shot out of bed.

"What! How! I'll restrain her, you –"

Realizing that I was conscious and able to look him straight in the eye without shrieking, he relaxed. "Hey, Al. Are you okay? You scared us, you know."

At his gentle words, I slumped, embarrassed. My sister had lost too much sleep over me, and Scorpius didn't need this kind of worry in his life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Of course I'll tell you." I sighed, deciding to be careful about what I said. If I said something wrong, I wouldn't have my sister or my friends – they couldn't _know. _"It's just about the car crash that Mom and Dad died in. You know, I was in the car with them, and I guess it got to me more than it should have. That's _all, _guys; it's just a really bad reliving of that night. That's it."

Yeah, I was full of bullshit. That wasn't it. I had failed to add my parents dying in my arms, or the fight we had – I was being petty and stupid, as usual – just before the crash. My last words to my parents before the car crash were terse – "Fine. But I wanted to stay at the party _longer, _and I hope you know that."

And the voice after the crash? They would get me committed. _Just remember, little girl, this is all on you. _

It _was _all on me. Why couldn't I have died as well? Why did I have to watch the life bleeding from their eyes? Why did they have to tell _me _not to be scared? It wasn't fair. Just thinking about it – for the first time in weeks, I realized guiltily – made me want to curl up into a ball and die.

But I couldn't. I couldn't hurt Scar like that.

So I smiled at her, masking the all-encompassing pain that I felt would never really go away, and told myself to make a plan – a silencing charm around my bed? Talking to the nurse? Taking a sleeping potion?

I'd do them all to take away the creased from between Scar and Scorpius's eyes.

I moved to get up again. Time for Operation Act Normal.

"So, breakfast?" I said pleasantly. "And I don't want to be late for classes, I—"

"Oh, no you don't!" Suddenly, the nurse arrived from her office. She was usually a temperate character, but now, her eyes were wide with anger. "Get back into bed. You two, _out of my sickbay. _The girl needs rest."

"No, wait, please!" The two in question looked a bit shocked – even indignant. I needed to talk to them before they went. "Madame, can I at least ask them for a favour?"

She inclined her head sharply and waited for me to say what I needed to. Realizing that I wouldn't get any privacy, I sighed.

"Sorry, guys, really. Sorry to have done this again. Scar, I'll see you later." She bristled, but at my warning glance she strode out of the hospital. I hoped she wouldn't be too angry later. "Scorp? Please apologize to Cassie for me. I'm sorry to have woken her. And please don't let anybody visit me? I can't deal with their pity right now, okay?" At his quick frown, I asked again. "Please, Scorp. I just can't. Don't tell anyone about what this is all about."

He didn't look happy about it, but Scorp nodded once and patted my shoulder. "Just make sure you're okay, Al." And with that, he swept off to breakfast, his robes billowing behind him.

The Matron swept back into my curtained-off area of hospital. "Right. So, bad dreams? I want you to take _this." S_he held out a white bottle without a label, filled with a milky white potion. "It's a sleeping potion, and last night was quite eventful."

I winced. "What actually happened?"

She clucked disapprovingly. "Your sister, Cassandra, and Scorpius dragged you in here sometime around three AM. You were screaming and sobbing, and they could barely restrain you, you were thrashing so much. Your eyes were wide open but were rolling back in their sockets. Scarlett seemed terrified, to be honest. She made Cassandra go back to her dormitory after we managed to drug you into a restful sleep, but Scorpius refused to go – said he needed to be here when you woke up. You need even more sleep, Little, so you are staying here all day, you are going to take this potion, and then you are going to sleep through the night, and then you may resume classes." She stood up. "Am I clear?"

Usually, I would have argued, but the small lady suddenly seemed formidable, and I _was _tired. I nodded meekly and she pressed the potion into my hand. Downing it, I felt sleep come upon me almost immediately.

Suddenly, I jerked awake, probably due to the incessant growling of my stomach. Sitting up, I realized that the Hospital Wing was silent and dark – even the Matron's office. I sighed, wondering where I could get some food.

My stomach growled again.

I sighed, resigning myself to hunger. Jumping out of bed, I decided to find the bathrooms at the very least – water would certainly be welcome. I checked the time, and was surprised to find that it was already one in the morning.

As I took a step away from my bed, I tripped over something and landed on my knees. Grumbling, I trying to see what I had tripped over, but I couldn't.

I did, however, _hear _it.

"_OUCH_!" A boy's voice was loud in the oppressive stillness of the room. I had my wand out immediately, and hoped it wasn't anybody who would hurt me.

"No, no, sorry Alyss – it's just me." Suddenly, Albus's lanky form appeared from nowhere, and I jolted in shock.

"Where the _hell _did you come from?" I hissed.

"Sh, it's okay, I have an invisibility cloak," he whispered. "No time to explain!" He rapidly cast various silencing spells around my bed, and grinned at me in a strange crooked-yet-boyish-and-mischievous way.

"What are you _doing_ here?" I asked, annoyed that anybody had seen me in the hospital. I didn't want my new friends to see me in this fit of weakness.

"Um, I brought food. Thought you'd be hungry. But I had to sneak in in case Matron thought I was trying to be creepy, or something. I'm not, you know. Being creepy. I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up, and –" He ran his hands through his hair, and shifted from foot to foot, suddenly flustered. It was adorable – as adorable as I had come to find his nerdiness in Transfiguration.

"You brought me food?" That was one thing that would always mollify me. Yum. Albus was no longer counted as annoying.

How could anyone so adorable and awkward and mischievous be?

He deserved a hug, so I gave one to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and squeezing. He stiffened, as if he was still expecting me to yell at him, but then bent down to hug me back. He was _so _tall, it was almost difficult. But his face rested on the top of my head and he sighed.

"Is that all you got from that, Little?" He laughed. And then let go, much to my chagrin. Suddenly, he had whipped out several plates and was telling me what to do when I was finished. "Leave them out for the house-elves – one will come around before morning so that you don't get caught." He smiled, proud of himself, grabbed his cloak, and began to walk out of the Hospital.

"Oh! And Alyss! Are you feeling better?" The beautiful crease between his brows made an abrupt entrance – _like when he was writing an essay – _and he cocked his head and turned around with a flourish. "I'm sorry, I meant to ask."

My stomach fluttered, and I was flattered that he cared about my health.

"All good, Albus – I'll be out tomorrow, okay? Thanks for the food." I smiled him, shifting on the spot. He smiled back, and then was off into the night.

I laughed at myself, staring at the space where he had left the food.

_Stop overthinking_, I told myself. _He was just being a nice friend. _

And that's all it was – Albus was completely oblivious to the little crush on him that I had harbored. He was just my super good friend – especially with Scorpius and Rose's tentative flirting and Cassie's occupation with her elusive Hufflepuff.

He couldn't have any idea of what he made me feel.


	11. Chapter 11

**Bonjour, lovelies!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! I put a little more Albus/Alyss in there for you (we get to see sleepy adorable Albus! yays!) as well as some BAMF Scarlett (because she is tiny but scary and fabulous). I really enjoyed writing it, especially the last bit :).**

**I also wanted to say a BIG GIANT HAPPY THANK YOU to my reviewers! I love you more than chocolate (kind of ;) ) Reviews are actually the literary equivalent to chocolate cake, ice cream, sparkly things and books all wrapped up in fabulosity. By definition. **

**I love you all!**

**xoxo**

**SarWolf**

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><p>Chapter 11<p>

The morning after my ridiculous trip to the hospital wing, after I arrived at breakfast late after a quick shower, Scarlett and my friends (minus Albus, the big lazeball – he was always late to breakfast) swamped me. The jumble of voices was almost enough to give me a headache.

"I want explanations!"

"Are you okay?"

"Jeez, Alyss, you sure know how to go out!"

"Your screaming was so scary – are you sure you don't need another day in the hospital wing?"

"Aw, you look scared. How was being sick without Tumblr?"

"Guys. _Guys!" _I held my hands up, as if to ward off a blow. "I'm perfectly fine, just a silly nightmare. I can't believe I was held in the Hospital wing for 24 hours, it just seems excessive. Nothing to worry about!"

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. I was woken up at five thirty this morning for the Matron to do some tests on my brain – some kind of brain scan, but with a wand.

Medicine here was fascinating.

Anyway, when she was finished, Matron looked a bit worried and went to her potions cabinet. When she came back, she asked me to take two tablespoons of the potion she handed me a day, and when I asked why, she said that it was a mild relaxant and would make sure that I wouldn't have any more bad dreams. I took some this morning, and I felt fine, but I wasn't about to tell my friends and overprotective sister that I was on extra wizard drugs!

She would totally freak out.

So, I waved their concerns away from me and scoffed at their wide-eyed expressions. "I'm _fine. _Continue talking about what you were talking about. Aren't you three Gryffindors supposed to be at your own table, anyway?"

"Um, we were actually talking about you, Alyss. And we're here because we care about you more than we care about breakfast rules," Rose murmured.

"Right." I sighed. "Don't continue with that, I'm here and alive and well rested. See?" I grinned at them and grabbed the espresso that some kind and beautiful house elf had undoubtedly made. After my first big slurp, Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. If the addict is back to her drug, she's _fine."_

"_Whatever, _Hot Chocolate," I shot back.

"I know. Okay, see you, guys. I said I'd catch up with Hugo and Lily before breakfast ended."

Hugo and Lily were related to Rose and Albus, Hugo being Rose's baby brother and Lily being Albus's little sister. They were Scarlett's closest friends, were nearly were as weird as her, and were among the few people she could actually stand. She had gotten rid of the people who tried to befriend her initially, because they were 'boring and too obsessed with hormones and clothes and not obsessed enough with books'.

I was so proud.

"Oi, Scar, don't forget Hogsmead on Saturday, hey?" I yelled after her retreating form. We had decided to go down to the village for the first time together – we didn't spend enough one-on-one sister time these days and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Plus, we were both getting a bit stir-crazy after a month cooped up in one place.

Who knew that the Little sisters would one day actually _voluntarily _leave the house?

"Yeah, yeah, Al. Just don't forget – if you bore me with too much shopping, I will stick quills into your eyes and spill ink on your clothes!" She shouted this brusquely, over her shoulder. My sister _hated _shopping.

"I'll cut off your glorious blonde locks!" I countered (a_h, sisterly love_) and turned, amused, to my coffee and my friends, who were looking slightly less worried about me, and had begun to relax and eat (and in Scorpius's case, flirt with the gradually more responsive and – faintly blushing – Rose).

"Did someone mention my name?" A sleepy voice floated down from somewhere above me, and Albus squeezed onto the bench beside me.

"What, Glorious Blonde Locks? It would suit you, Potter." I smirked

He knocked his shoulder into mine and rolled his eyes. "I'm sure. How are you feeling? Less terrified and sleepy, more hungry? Always a good sign, you know, Little." He nodded sagely and nearly knocked over the toast rack. Albus was not a morning person, and that led to him being even more un-coordinated than _me _before around ten o'clock.

Which is why we didn't expect him until noon on weekends. Weekdays were just hazardous.

I sighed and shook my head ruefully. "Careful. The toast might think you have it out for it. And, as I keep saying, I'm _fine. _Perfect! And thank you for my dinner last night."

"Of course!" He blinked groggily and waved his hand around in the direction of me – nearly smacking me. "I'm perfectly wonderful when it comes to friendship." He yawned and his head flopped down onto his toast, promptly getting butter on his face, as he began to snore quietly.

"Rose?" I asked, amused. "He's worse this morning, probably due to my dinner-bringing. Should we leave him? We still have a half hour before classes."

"Yes, yes," she said distractedly, as Scorpius squared his shoulders and looked decidedly like he had come to a decision.

"Right," he muttered to himself. "Right!" he said loudly. "Rose, I've been subtly trying to test the romantic waters between us –"

"We all know, Scorp, you haven't really been that subtle," Cassie interjected.

"And it hasn't made it easy in Heads' meetings," Rose said amusedly.

"—And I feel it's time to—"

Rose, blushing furiously to the tips of her ears, grabbed Scorpius's wrist and dragged him from his half eaten bacon sandwich to the (hopefully) empty entrance hall. "Why don't we have this little chat on our own, Malfoy? Your lack of tact _astounds_ me, honestly."

"I'm tactful! Even smooth!" he complained, but off they marched to the entrance hall. Maybe the constant flirting had finally worn Rose down.

"Yeah, you _are_, Scorp! You tell 'er. Go get 'em," Albus slurred from his plate of toast, waving his hands in the air like a madman.

I flinched. "Albus, try not to kill anybody in your sleep. It's not good for them."

He just grunted in response. It was something.

Cassie stared at her fruit and granola moodily. "Pass me the bacon, Al, I need grease." She glared at the food on her plate as if it had done something to personally offend her.

At this point, I was a bit worried. Cassie never – _never – _was angry at food. It was against, like, her very genetic makeup.

"Cass, are you okay?" I asked slowly.

"Fine." She growled. Grabbing the plate of bacon, she stormed off to the entrance hall, where I imagine she swept off dramatically in some direction.

Suddenly, Albus's head popped up from the table. "Alyss. Alyss! I wannad the ask ya somethin." His words were so slurred, I could barely understand him.

"Hmmm?" I said to him, still staring after Cassie. I hoped she was alright – and I made a mental note to ask her about it during class. Cassie put on a tough act, and seemed like she could handle most things, but if something was worrying her, I wanted to know what.

That's what friends were for.

Albus shook his head like a dog ridding his ears of water and blinked at me. "Wait." He grabbed the coffee pot near us and downed it in one go. "Right."

As we waited for the coffee to go into effect, I mulled over the Cassie situation. What _could _be the answer? Maybe something was wrong at home, or maybe the Hufflepuff was giving her troubles. Ooh, if that were the issue, that boy would have another thing coming.

Albus was suddenly awake. "Ah, what wonders coffee can do!" He grinned at me, looking far more normal and ruffled his messy hair. "Now, where was I?"

"You were going to ask me something, I think," I said distractedly.

"Ah, yes!" He agreed cheerfully. "D'you want to—"

"Hey, you're Alyss Little, right? The new girl." A stocky Ravenclaw boy was standing behind me, flanked by two goons – whom, I suppose, were his friends.

"Who wants to know?" I said coolly. It had been at least a month since the first day of school. I no longer classified as 'the new girl'.

"Hopkins. William Gerard Hopkins." Saying, his name, he puffed up a bit, looking smug at being alive. _What a tool. _"Hogsmeade is this weekend. I think you should go with me."

I turned around and stood up. Hopkins was quite a bit taller than me, but I was used to it – lots of people were when you were my height. Albus felt my abrupt change in mood and tensed, ready to hold me back if necessary, which I thought was just ridiculous. But whatever – I had more important fish to fry.

I smiled sweetly. "Is that _so?"_

He nodded, like, _you're welcome, peasant. _

"Aren't you dating Priscilla, my dorm mate?"

"Priscilla and I are just friends," he smirked.

"Really? Where I'm from, friends don't snog in the corridors, or sneak into one another's dormitories…"

"Yeah, well, we have a looser definition. What can I say?" His stupid smirk hadn't left his face.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm going with my sister, whose conversation, I'm sure, far surpasses your own. I don't like people who I haven't met before." I waited for the smirk to leave because of the agony I had just inflicted. _It was still there! _

He laughed huskily – or attempted to, probably to seem sexy. Leaning down, he whispered into my ear, "I'll be around when you change your mind."

"Oh, honey." I shook my head, and raised my voice so that the people around us could hear me. "I would rather go with the giant squid." I shook my head mournfully. "What's that old saying? Don't call us, we'll call you. Or, you know. _Not. _Ciao, darling." I let the derision drip from my voice like poison syrup, and gave him my most disparaging look while he went redder than a blood-soaked tomato. After dismissing him, I sat down and continued with my breakfast. I heard him stalk away with his friends in tow, and saw Albus' shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"You can sure take care of yourself, Alyss." He chuckled, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I hate people who act like they're better than everybody else," I said cheerfully. "Ah, _sport. _What an asshole. I can't wait until he tries to cross me again."

"I want to be there!" Albus agreed. "But I actually wanted to ask you the same question. Want to go to Hogsmeade together?"

Was he asking for a date? My heart began to hammer, and I fought down a raging blush.

"Scorp and Rose are probably going together, and Cassie always has a date, so I thought it would be fun," he continued, oblivious to my reaction.

So he _wasn't _asking to go on a date with me. Why would he be? We were mates, and our relationship wasn't even slightly romantic. I tried not to feel crushed.

"Ah, sorry, Albus. I actually am going with my sister – we don't spend enough time together." I shrugged and patted his shoulder. "Next time?"

"Yeah." He looked disappointed, and my heart leaped. I was a terrible friend. "But doesn't Scar hate shopping?"

"She needs supplies, and I bribed her with ice-cream and talk of our favorite television series," I explained. And then I explained what a television series _was. _

He looked a bit upset throughout my explanation, and by the end of it, he was fidgeting quite a bit.

"Say, Al, I have to go. I'm not supposed to be here anyway. Catch up with you later?" And with that, he grabbed his toast and sped out of the Great Hall, leaving me utterly baffled and crunching through breakfast alone.

Several hours later, I was sitting in the Room of Requirement with Scarlett, (kind of) legally ditching Muggle Studies (and watching _Sherlock, _Season Three, for the millionth time, of course) when I stopped it and checked my watch. "_Merlin, _Scar, Lunch is soon. We'd better get down to the Great Hall, hey?"

She sighed. "But the drunk scene is coming soon!"

"I know, I know, but I'm super hungry," I said insistently. "We'll come back tonight, okay?"

"Fine," she grumbled, and we untangled ourselves from the mini-theatre that had appeared just this morning.

As we walked down the hall, which was slowly becoming more and more busy as classes began to let out, I told her of my encounter at breakfast – with Hopkins _and_ Albus.

"Wow, Hopkins sounds like such a assholic _tool,_ Al," Scarlett said happily. "I'm so proud of you for putting him in his place! And about Albus." She shook her head. "Maybe he actually does like you. I mean, it would explain his behavior after your chat!"

"He was fine in Charms, and in Alchemy – he even told me more puns, it was fantastic. Besides, he made it clear that he was only asking me for convenience." I sighed, wishing the words weren't true.

Scar looked doubtful, and was obviously about to argue the point, when Hopkins and his ridiculous posse appeared in front of us.

"What do you want, Hopkins?" I snapped. "I'm busy."

"I'm sure," he said silkily. "I hear I was wasting my time earlier, though." He stepped closer to me. "I hear muggle girls are very forthcoming with their… affections. Don't even need to bring them to Hogsmeade first, and they'll –"

_Thud. _The Ravenclaw went reeling as Scarlett's fist connected with his jaw.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention. My sister was a karate black belt, or something. Hell if I really understood what that entailed, but I knew that Scarlett, despite her tininess, was lethal – especially when well and truly pissed off.

And then, what he just said began to sink into my system.

He would pay for that.

His goons stood there stupidly, arguing about what to do. "We can't fight with a little _girl, _Melvin! That would be unethical!"

Oh, no. I could only stand there as a furious Scarlett whipped out her wand, hit them with a Bat-Bogey and then kicked them in…unfortunate places – all quicker than you could say 'sexist pigs'.

My sister had never been able to stay quiet if she didn't like what people were saying. Releasing them from the curse, she let them writhe on the ground in agony. "That one's all yours, sis."

"Er, right." I remembered how pissed off I was.

I flicked my wand at Hopkins to wake him up. "Rise and shine, sweet cheeks."

His eyes flew open, and he sat up with a gasp. "What the _hell –"_

"Oh, you should know never to mess with somebody's sister. Did you really think that either of us were going to ignore what you just said?" I smiled sweetly. "Oh, _William. _I'm so _sorry _that you're so very uneducated. It must be so difficult, being in Ravenclaw, and knowing so little about the world. Are you embarrassed every time one of your intelligent friends speaks, and you can't keep up? An uninformed Ravenclaw. What a sad, sad thing."

Insult his House traits, and then terrify him. I watched him grow red with embarrassment and fury and the crowd around us began to grow.

"You should have known not to argue with me, Hopkins," I hissed. "I've been through more than your pretty little mind can comprehend. I've stared death in the face, and seen friends recoil from me when they find out what I can do." Okay, so I was being dramatic, but I liked an audience. "Your little words can only be turned around to hurt you." I snorted derisively at him, sitting on the ground, winded and embarrassed. "Little man with a stick of wood? Take it away and you wouldn't be able to survive. Don't mess with me, sweetheart." I patted him on the head.

"Well, she was put into the right house," somebody whispered from the depths of the surrounding crowd.

"Why, thank you." I blew a kiss into their direction, and Scarlett and swept off to lunch.

Scarlett slapped my hand in a low five. "I knew I was proud to have you as my sister for a reason. Hopefully I'll get detention for this! I haven't had one yet, it's messing me up."

"You're psychotic, kid. Only you would wear detention like a badge of honor." But I grinned. William Gerard Hopkins wouldn't be bothering me again.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Hello, everybody!**_

_**So this is a very quick update, because I had a day off from exam writing and felt inspired (kind of). I meant to write this chapter on the Hogsmeade Saturday, but it kind of got away from me – I (hope I) ended up clarifying the Scorpius/Rose thing, and I wanted to put in a bit of friendship bonding time for Alyss and the Slytherin part of the gang. Plus, you know, I needed to put in a little bit of emotional confusion for our darling protagonist (sorry – read it – spoilers ;) )**_

_**Anyway, enjoy! **_

_**And thank you/shout out to **__**NightOwl Fury**__**, you beautiful, wonderful person for the wonderful, enthusiastic reviews!**_

_**I really, really appreciate all of your reviews (as I've mentioned, they are like internet fireworks of love which I adore). Thank you also to **__**freddie97**__**, **__**Julie**__**, **__**Guest(s),**__**longrandomword**__**, and **__**theflatmatewholived**__** for reviewing in previous chapters! Let me know how you think I should improve in the reviews section (or message me – I would appreciate that too), and what you think of the characters and their dynamics!**_

_**All my love,**_

_**SarWolf xoxo**_

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><p>Chapter 12<p>

"Hello, my dear, monumental asshole of note. Care to tell me what exactly is up with you and Rose? Like, are you taking her to the village tomorrow or what?" I sat down next to a fidgeting Scorpius on the couch next to the fire in our emerald common room.

He looked up from his book – _Quidditch Through the Ages, _which he had read a few hundred times before, and was currently just staring at – and grinned. "Hey, it's my favourite invalid!"

I narrowed my eyes. "Let it go, Malfoy, or I'll tell your mom that you burned her favourite scarf when we were fourteen."

He blanched and put the book (that he wasn't even reading) down. "Awwww, I'm sorry, sweetie-pie. I will attempt to answer your incredibly invasive questions regarding my love life while also feeding you a block of Honeyduke's finest to attempt to blackmail you into keeping quiet." He whipped out a giant bar of chocolate. "But only because I get to stock up in Hogsmeade tomorrow."

Damn. He knew chocolate was my favourite. "Your methods are underhanded, but totally warranted. "This changes nothing, now spill."

"You are a cruel mistress, oh twin of my soul!" he sighed, and looked at me hopefully.

"That makes no sense," I grumbled. "If I were, truly, twin of your soul, I would already fucking know what is going down between you and my other good friend. Plus, I need to tell Scar whether or not she has a depressed sitting-in-the-corner-of-shops-and-sulking partner. It's only fair. Also…" and at this point, I looked at him, making my eyes big and sad and fluttering my eyelashes at him. "I wanna _know."_

"Fine. But only because you're my best girl…mate…thing and because you begged." He harrumphed poutily and glared at me through his lashes.

I knew he didn't really mean it, though. He was always a bit of a drama queen.

"Get on with it, then!" I said happily.

"Right." He cleared his throat.

"So, I've liked Rose for ages and ages now – we used to bicker all the time, and I didn't actually realize it until Christmas of last year. And, well, she came back from her home – the Burrow, I've been with Albus – and she was just… I dunno, Alyss," he said, faintly blushing, his fair skin turning pink, "I just knew that I wanted to sweep her off her feet. So basically I spent until June pretending I didn't and ignoring my feelings so that I 'wouldn't ruin our friendship', or some stupid shit like that – she had a boyfriend, you see, and I figured that, when she came to me for advice before she started dating – _don't give me that look, I know it was a terrible idea to ask for my advice_. Anyway, she came to me for advice and I told her to date the bloke and she almost cried, apparently, but hid it. And we grew apart, and it made me incredibly unhappy, especially since he was a complete tool who didn't _get _her, you know?"

"By the end of the year, they had broken up and we became closer than ever. So this summer, when I got my head boy badge, I decided to get my head out of my ass and just go for it. So I've been subtly trying to let her know about my feelings –"

I looked at him with a doubtful expression. "Subtly by whose definition?"

"I was very subtle!"

"Sure, Romeo."

"Whatever, Alyss. So I tried to clue her in as to my feelings, and she wasn't _doing_ anything, except blushing and acting confused – even when I kissed her during rounds, Al! – so I asked her out and now we're going to Hogsmeade together tomorrow. Does that answer your question?"

I shook my head. "You are so clueless when it comes to girls. Did you try to talk to her about the kiss after the kiss?"

"No," he said petulantly, "But I asked her out."

"How many weeks after the kiss?"

He looked guilty. "Maybe…um… three?"

"I give up. Good for you, though, for finally having the balls, Scorp. I want, like, a blow-by-blow account, okay? Or maybe I'll just ask Rose, since your blow-by-blows are like, 'we made out. There was tongue.'" I shook my head. _Boys. _

"Ooh, yes, ask her! And then you can tell me what she thought!" Scorpius's surly-teenagerness morphed instantly into 'pleading puppy-dog'.

"We'll see. That may violate Girl Code, I'm not sure." I shook my head. "So you're going with Rose, I'm dragging Scar, Cassie's managed to coerce some poor sod into going, and Albus is going with… who, exactly? Do you know? Is he even going?" I frowned. "Maybe I should leave Scar with her friends later and go meet with him? He wanted to go with me because everyone else was busy, so maybe I should make a plan to keep him company – what do you think?"

"_Because everyone else was busy." _Scorpius shook his head. "You're so blind, Alyss."

_What?_

"What?" I asked him. "That's practically how he phrased it – I had to let him down because of my plans, but I feel so bad for abandoning him."

Did Scorpius think Albus liked me? Since they were best friends, would that mean that Albus _did_ like me?

I tried not to hope.

"Right." My friend smirked. "Of course. And I'm sure he's not too cut up about it, he's going with Jilly Atkinson, a Gryffindor 6th year. So I wouldn't disturb him, if you _know _what I mean."

And _there _went my insides. I think they might have dropped to my feet. Was this disappointment? Of _course _not, I already knew he just saw me as a friend, and I would _not_ be jealous of this _Jilly_ character. That would just be petty, and, quite frankly, be a bit pathetic. Time to act as Albus's Bestie! I was good at that.

FML.

So I put on my best smirk, and wiggled my eyebrows suggestively. "Our Al is about to get lucky, hmmm? I'll make sure to tease him about it tomorrow."

I don't think Scorpius bought my act, but I also don't think he realised that my affections for our mutual friend were at all romantic. So it was fine, actually – all good!

He stretched and grinned, but then caught sight of the clock in the corner of his eye. "_Merlin, _is that the time? I'd better get to bed – I don't want circles under my eyes for tomorrow. Ciao, darling!"

"Do you want fashion advice from your personal guru tomorrow, Malfoy?" I yelled at him retreating form.

"Nah, I got it. I can be suave. I'll wear, um, jeans without holes and a leather jacket with a jersey, or something." He shot up to his dormitory. "See you tomorrow!"

"Laters," I said softly.

When I got up to the dorm, Cassie was already there, getting ready for bed.

"Don't forget, Al," she said cheerfully. "We need to help Rosie get ready for her big important date tomorrow because she can't do fashion alone!" Cass frowned. "Actually, she just can't do _fashion._"

I smiled at her good cheer. "Right. Um, how's your date. Actually, who's your date?"

"A boy from Hufflepuff," she said dreamily. "And that's all I'm saying because I don't want to – well, to jinx it. We had a mega fight earlier this week, and I feel like everything's too new to spoil with… people. You know?"

"You've been dating a month," I said dryly.

"And I'm very happy! Besides, we're not at the point where we would update our Facebook profiles to 'in a relationship', so we're not ready to go public yet."

"Fair enough, Cassie. But I want all the dirty details when you are." I winked at her, and what she said hit me. I can't believe I hadn't picked it up before. "Wait – you're muggleborn?"

"Ja, of course, silly!" Cassie grinned at me. "I'm even South African. Cassandra Fourie? I meant to mention it before – I found a place in Hogsmeade where you can get kind-of biltong! It helps if you're, you know – homesick."

"Um, I possible should have picked that up with the accent," I said, stunned. "Sorry I'm so dense."

"No need for apologies, you silly thing!"

And so we chatted about home for a few moments more – she lived down in Cape Town, which was quite a while away from my old home – but before long, we fell asleep, excited for the following day.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"If you make me wear this dress, not only will I cry, and freeze to death, but I will also come back to haunt you as an angry, frozen ghost," Rose said, glaring at Cassandra and me. We were holding a gorgeous-yet-casual grey winter sweater dress and a bag of make-up, respectively, and, as we stood in the Slytherin 7th year girls' dormitory, we were determined to get our friend ready for her date.

"It's cute that you think that you have a choice, sweet-pea." Cass held out the dress and smiled wickedly. "Don't make me do this the hard way."

"She sounds like my little sister," I cooed as I applied the finishing touches to my own outfit. "You didn't really think we were letting you on a date with Scorpy in jeans and a sweatshirt?"

Her face betrayed her obvious thought – _I'll wear what I usually do in front of my friends! – _and she frowned, staring shiftily at the emerald green hangings around her. "What's the hard way?"

"We stun you and we dress you while unconscious. And we'll conveniently forget to put you in stockings, dear," Cassie said nonchalantly.

She instantly mellowed, casting a pleading look at me, as I raised an eyebrow wryly. "Now, I know you don't really mean that…" she said, pleading softly.

And our darling little Rose attempted to bolt from our green sanctuary.

_Bang. _A flash of light.

"There, she's not stunned, Aly, dear – I know you were slightly opposed to that. Just a full body bind, that's it."

"You sound so deliciously _evil _when you say 'Aly, dear', Cass," I said, batting my eyelashes at her.

"Don't you know it," she answered distractedly.

We hastily dressed her in the cashmere sweater dress as she glared up at us venomously, unable to move.

"You don't think this is slightly inhumane, Cas?" I wondered aloud. "I mean, curses are never fun to get out from."

"Shhhhh, Alyss, just finish her eye-makeup and we'll let her free. Besides, when she looks in the mirror, all she'll see is a gorgeous look that will blow Scorpius's mind. Don't worry." Cassandra continued to dig around her closet for the right coat.

"I'm going to let her wear the stockings," I decided. "It's cold out there." I smiled down at my fallen comrade. "There, see? I'm looking out for you. Please don't kill me – it was Cassie's idea anyway."

"Way to throw me under the bus, bitch," Cassie said cheerfully as she located the coat. "There! This is long enough to look good and short enough to be slightly sexy. The outfit is perfect!"

We released Rose from the full body bind at last, and she sprang up from the bed, affronted.

"I don't full body bind _you guys!_ How is this even fair? That you full body bind _me? _I honestly can't believe you!" She glared at us and whipped out her wand, stalking towards us angrily. "Or maybe that'll become our thing, we, a loving group of friends, hex each other regularly, and maybe I'll start _right bloody now!"_

Cassie shrugged, unaffected by her friend's anger. "Oh, my love, yell at me all you want, but do it after you look in the mirror, okay?"

"Well, I—" Rose continued furiously, but stopped short when I grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the mirror on my cupboard.

She stopped dead.

"I'd… like to see an actual mirror, please," she said, voice shaking. I handed her three other mirrors, and she stared at her image, gobsmacked by the changes that we had made.

Or lack thereof, to be frank. I mean, sure, Rose was wearing a dress and we put her into some makeup and tamed her hair, but it was a clingy grey sweater tunic over tights and boots, and all we did was make her hair slightly sleeker, and highlight her eyes and cheekbones. The rest was done by her genetics.

Rose was absolutely beautiful.

"Look at us!" Cassie exclaimed cheerfully, flinging her arms around Rose and me in front of the mirror. "We're young, good-looking, and can do magic. Now let's go seize the day, yeah?"

"Now's the time we should be taking a selfie," I said wistfully. "But in the magic world, I guess that's not possible."

"Think again, my sweet, innocent friend!" Cassie said gleefully. "I have a bewitched camera that can take perfectly good selfies!"

And so she whipped it out, and, much to the bemusement of a confused, non-muggle Rose, we took a gorgeous selfie (I hoped).

"C'mon, girls," Cassie grinned. "Let's go _shopping_."

* * *

><p>As we arrived at the foot of the stairs next to the Great Hall, where Rose was to meet Scorp (a bit ridiculous, if you ask me – they were in the same part of the castle, but Cassandra insisted on being formal about the 'date' bit), Scorpius was already there, standing next to a dashing-looking Albus. Cassie squealed as we came close.<p>

"Right! Procession time! Rose, you stand with me. Alyss, you go ahead, tell the boys that she's on their way."

Cassie was obviously having too much fun with this. Apparently, she shipped the new couple. (ScoRose? That was a good name for them.)

Rose rolled her eyes. I sighed. "Look, Cass, I put up with the beginning but, but is this part really necessary? They've been friends for years, and –"

She pouted. "Let me have my fun."

"This is _my _life, Cassandra." Rose scowled.

Cass cut a glance to her. "And your point is….."

Rose and I exchanged a weary look. "Fine," we chorused.

So off I set to wearily greet the boys. Traipsing around the corner to reach the foot of the stairs from my dungeon-dorm, I saw the boys standing there, apparently in deep conversation, with their backs to where I was walking from.

"Scorp!" I yelled, hoping that they would turn around. I stalked towards them, a scowl on my face.

The boys turned quickly – guiltily? – around, as if they were discussing something illicit. Scorp's face had lit up at the sound of his name, but seeing me, his shoulders slumped and he looked disappointed.

"Hey! That's no way to greet your friends!" I socked his shoulder and pulled him into a quick hug. "Hey Al," I continued, turning from Scorpius to grin quickly at him.

"Um, hey," he mumbled, eyes wide and surprised-looking.

"Is she coming? Is she going to be here soon?" Scorp asked distractedly.

"Yes, yes," I said impatiently. "Of course she is. You think she'd ditch you after all that earlier this term?"

"No," he said defensively. "We have _Heads duties, _we need to be at the village by 10 so that we can patrol –"

At my facial expression he cut himself off. "What?"

I tried to exchange a look with Albus, who still looked confused. Giving up, I sighed, looking back at Scorpius. "Nothing. _Of course_ you're just worried about heads duties. I'm _sure _that's all it is." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway. You couldn't have made a move earlier? I think Rose is going to off Cassie if we don't do something soon. She's been wild trying to get Rose ready. Had her up at seven!" I shook my head, scandalized. I considered nine to be too early on weekends, and I was up with the psychopath.

Not that I minded. Getting ready together was kind of fun. But I wasn't going to tell _Cassie _that. And besides, now that the getting ready afterglow was gone, I was grumpy from being up too early.

Finally, Albus said something, and it was (unfortunately) not, "You look ravishing, take me now!" or "I love you, Alyss."

Or "I have a spare slab of chocolate on my person, here you go, enjoy." That would have been cool too.

It was "What are you _wearing?"_

Now, I took my style very seriously. I liked flouncy skirts, flouncy shirts, pink, black, grey, brown, cool coats, cardigans, steampunk and leather. Very recently, I had been working on a variety of DIY steampunk outfits in my spare time (I secretly loved to sew and would occasionally make my own clothes) and so I wasn't sure how to take the bewildered tone in Albus's voice. Was it 'OMG-she-has-awesome-style-she-must-be-so-cool-in-ways-I-didn't-realize' bewildered or 'OMG-I-can't-what-is-this-monstrosity' bewildered? I hoped it was the first, because I was pretty sensitive about my designs.

Luckily, Scorpius jumped to my aide. "I know, it's something, isn't it? Mum always did say that Alyss was an artist." He nodded at me. "Your work has improved, Al."

I looked down at my dark grey pinstriped sailor pocket shorts (the work he was referring to) and matching suspenders layered over burgundy tights. Over the tights, I sported just-over-the-knee lace up black boots, and my blouse was white loose, long-sleeved and (somehow) warm. My coat was also a dark grey, and was in a military style. Best of all, I had a leather pouch attached to a cool leather belt buckled around my waist, and it was a mess of glittering bronze and buckles, and was just in general really cool.

To top it off, I was wearing a dark red collar necklace with a cameo pin, but he was staring at my boots and my suspenders.

"Why, thank you, Scorp," I said happily. Turning to Albus, I said, "What, you don't like it?"

He coughed and turned red. "Cool boots."

"Merci!" I laughed, suddenly cheerful.

"Hey guys!"

Suddenly, Rose and Cassie were there. Cassie looked like an overzealous puppy – thrilled that 'her baby' was finally going on a date with Scorp. Rose looked like she would enjoy hiding her friend's cold, mangled corpse.

Ah, the joys of friendship.

However, when Scorpius saw Rose, his entire being seemed to light up. I had never seen him like this around girls – whenever I was at his place for a holiday, he had girlfriends (if they even qualified as such), but he would always ditch them to hang out with Scar and me. The few times I had actually met them, he always seemed a tad bored.

This was a wonderful change.

And it was really cute, because Rose was also suddenly all smiles, ready to go have fun on her date.

"Hey," she said with a slightly shy smile. "Um, how are you?"

"Hey," he answered clumsily. "Um, I'm good. You look really nice. We should go. Rounds. Or something."

Scorpius blinked slowly, as if he was realizing that he was being slightly idiotic.

"Thanks," Rose said, and blushed to the roots of her hair. "Er, shall we?"

"Bye, kiddies!" Cassie sang. "Have fun! Use protection!"

Rose turned even more scarlet, and even Scorp began to blush. They stood there, seemingly not quite sure what to do.

"For the love of all that is good and _filled with calories, _guys, go before she starts naming your children?" I said amusedly. My words seemed to wake them up, and they nodded and quickly started to walk off.

When they were a sufficient way away, I groaned. "They are way too cute. I think I'm getting cavities."

"Don't kill my buzz, Wonderland," Cassie grumbled, and stared happily after the couple.

I choked. "Wonderland? What the _fresh hell _is that supposed to be, Fourie?"

"Your nickname, weirdo. We can't have two Als running around, can we?" she shook her head.

Albus, having apparently woken up from his stupor, joined the conversation. "I like it."

"Well, aren't we bipolar today?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Welcome to the land of the living. I _don't, _it's weird. And a mouthful."

"It's decided, then. That's what we're calling you!" Cassie looked thrilled.

"Whatever." I shook my head. Wonderland? At least they weren't calling me Hatter, or something equally weird.

"Perhaps Hatter is cooler?" Albus mused. "It's less of a mouthful."

"I love that one, too!" Cassie grinned and high-fived Albus. "Or perhaps we could just call her a range of Alice in Wonderland themed names?"

"I love it." Albus nodded solemnly and grinned at me.

"Traitor." I glared at him. "You're not supposed to side with Cassie over our kind of shared name!"

"Too late!" Cassie chirped, and smirked at me. "Why are you still hanging around this place, anyway? Aren't you meeting your sister?"

"Wait, you mean, you're _actually _going with your sister?" Albus goggled at me.

"I told you I was. It's _been _planned," I exclaimed huffily. To Cassie, I remarked, "She said she would pick me up here. It sounded rather ominous, I have no idea what she meant."

They both looked at me, and I shrugged. "What? My sister is slightly insane!"

"Fair enough," Albus said, bemused.

It didn't take long to get my answer about my sister's whereabouts. Almost as if our talking about her conjured her out of thin air, she tore down the stairs on a broom, and grinned down at my wildly.

"Get on, loser, we're going shopping!"

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><p><strong>I know, I'm sorry they aren't at Hogsmeade yet! But I neeeeeded to get this chapter out for you, it took me forever. I'm so sorry it did, guys, I had a crazy chem final which murdered my sorry ass, but my exams are over next week. Thank you for all of the support! Love you all so much.<strong>

**SarWolf xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

_**I am ****so so ****sorry about how long this one took to come out! Please don't hate me, beautiful people. PLEASE. **_

_**But exams are over and I'm on holiday and that means that I'm going to write way more (YAY! Hopefully). Thank you for sticking with me and thank you again for all the reviews.**_

_**Because reviews are actually as fantastic as hot butterbeer on a cold day and rescuing your friend from the clutches of someone you don't like! (Oops, spoilers ;) ). I really appreciate all constructive criticism you could possibly give me!**_

_**Love you all! **_

_**Xoxo**_

_**SarWolf**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

So, my own sister forced me to ride a broomstick. In the freezing cold. And it was _snowing. _

It had to be revenge. She hated shopping, loved flying, and was completely and utterly mad.

As we descended into the village, I had to yell over the wind made by our broom and the chatter of students milling about in the square. "I hate you! How are you not dying of cold, Scar?"

She grinned manically over her shoulder at me as we landed. "Actually, I'm freezing. I don't have a proper coat, remember? But you need to suffer for forcing me to go shopping."

"What? You don't have a coat, freak!" I shook my head, genuinely amused by her utter lack of sanity.

"My hair keeps me warm, Al." Shouldering her broom, Scar pursed her lips, swivelled her head and snapped in a Z formation. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"C'mon, you big weirdo. I asked around and there is, like, one muggle clothing shop in the village. We can find something there."

"We promised that we'd get ice-cream afterwards, right?" She asked hopefully, widening her eyes.

I stared at her. "It's about to snow. It is literally negative degrees, and you want _ice-cream?"_

"You promised! Besides, it's never too cold for ice-cream."

Insane, _and_ she had a death wish. Hypothermia, anyone.

"C'mon, you know you'll have some if I do."

"FINE." I started walking towards where I heard the muggle shop was. She skipped – a formidable feat with that broom – and caught up to me, grinning.

"So, how's school? Meet any hot boys that aren't assholes or your brand new BFF?" She smirked at me as I fought to keep my blush under wraps.

"Meh. Nothing yet." I waggled my eyebrows. "But I'll work on it. I would hate to disappoint you. I do need to keep up being a good role model, hey?"

"Oh, absolutely." She punched my shoulder. "So, has Albie made another move? Has he pulled you into a broom closet and ravished you yet?"

"Scarlett! I'm scandalized!" We both laughed. Sobering, I shook my head. "And that _won't _happen. We connect, as friends. We're good _as friends. _Besides, he has a date today with some Jilly Atwater, or something." _Yeah, Alyss, pretending to forget her name will really make it seem like you don't care. _"It doesn't matter."

Scarlett cut a dubious glance at me. "Okay, if you're sure."

I smiled at her. "It doesn't matter," I reiterated. "And I feel like we haven't had a proper chat for weeks!"

"We chatted a week ago," she said dryly.

"Yes, but you don't live across the corridor anymore! I miss you, kiddo." I patted her head and she glared playfully at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I suppose I kind of miss you as well, in a weird, roundabout way," she sighed.

"Whatever, bitch," I said happily. "So, how are these new friends?"

Her demeanour immediately shifted from 'I'm about to playfully call you asshole' to 'I LOVE EVERYTHING BECAUSE I AM A PUPPY'. She perked up from her earlier sarcasm and her entire face seemed to glow happily. Aw, my sister was so cute!

"Oh, Alyss. They are absolutely fantastic! I know I said that I didn't like most of the people in my year – the people who thought I was interesting just hung around me because I was new – but it turns out that Hugo and Lily's friends are absolutely fantastic after all! There are seven of us who sit together. All of us are completely insane, they are obsessed with a bunch of wizard novels that they made me read and one of the other muggleborns is crazy about BBC Sherlock. We're going to hold a giant get-together over Christmas break and make everybody watch the three seasons that are out. I adore them, I don't think I've ever met a group of people who are more up to speed with my brain. There's Hugo, and Lily, who are, of course, cousins – Hugo is constantly on my for not caring about what I look like – he's flamboyant and ridiculous and a bit of a cliché. I adore him. Lily is such a sport fiend – she's on the Quidditch team, as the Keeper, and we fly together sometimes – with the one of the beaters – Simon. He's quiet but ridiculously sassy and comes out with these hilarious one-liners. Jessica is one of the sweetest and most beautiful people I've ever met, inside and out, but if you mess with her or her food, she will go bat-shit crazy on your ass. Riami is the last person who makes up our little group – she's the angry one. She's fiercely loyal, but she can be really mean if she doesn't like you. The first week I was here, she refused to acknowledge me – it wasn't great, but she eventually warmed up when we learned how much we have in common – she's the muggleborn, you see. Plus, she's super sharp and could give Simon a run for his money in the academic field."

Scar sighed happily. I grinned at her utter bliss, suddenly homesick for the bouncy, sweet and excitable Poppy, and the steady, witty Amy – two of my close friends back home. I wished I didn't have to be so secretive about my education, and I wished it were easier to contact them.

"Hugo is ecstatic that you're taking me shopping, though," Scar continued thoughtfully. "He made me promise to model the clothes for everyone when we get back to the castle. Really, it's the only downfall."

I laughed. "Well, hang in there, Scarlett, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

As we arrived at the shop, Scar seemed to become more and more mopey. While I was expecting it, it was no picnic to discover that she was going to be difficult about choosing things to try on. Upon our stepping into the shop, she whipped out a thick paperback (from where was unclear) and told me to get her when she needed to try things on.

"Fine, but go sit by the changing rooms," I replied, resigned. She skipped off to happily devour another fantasy world (I was, despite my love of shopping, vaguely jealous) and began to browse through the racks.

Hmmm. My sister's standard uniform was jeans, a t-shirt and converse. She needed a coat, something nice to wear on Christmas, two pairs of new jeans, and something long-sleeved. I imagined this would be the last time I would be allowed to shop for her for a year, so it was time to splurge, I supposed.

Aptly, her favourite colour was red, and so I grabbed a lovely burgundy sweatshirt than read "I'm a keeper" with the silhouettes of those three hoop – thingys. It was very soft, cuddly, and if she chose it, I would be a bit jealous.

Sweatshirts were certainly a type of art form.

I browsed rack after rack of second-hand jeans, managed to pinpoint a few worthy long-sleeved t-shirts with cheeky phrases on them, and found a really gorgeous pale gold blouse that would compliment Scar's skin and that she could wear over her standard "Nice Black Pants". I grabbed a pair of sweatpants that might fit her, and woefully passed the lovely array of dresses.

Now, all I needed to do was find her a coat that she would actually wear. _Wonderful. _

The coat section was, admittedly, disappointingly sparse. About half of the collection was in wearable condition and none were in very fashionable styles, unfortunately. I browsed them, conflicted about getting something subpar (Yes. I may have been a bit snobbish, but coats were _important_) when I came across The Coat.

Scarlett had loved long, dramatic coats ever since the 10th doctor had made his first appearance in his iconic outfit. She had never cared about clothes, but had been obsessed with that coat for ages. It was, quite possibly, the only item of clothing that she was actually interested in.

And there was one _so _similar here! It wasn't exactly the same as the Doctor's – it was black and made of wool, and looked to be just her size. It would reach to her ankles! How wonderful. There were rows and rows of black buttons down the front, and the collar was absolutely dramatic. She would love it.

I dragged my sorry, garment-laden ass over to where my sister was happily sitting with the novel. She grimaced at my interruption and I made her go into one of the tiny changing rooms.

"The quicker you try things on, the quicker we'll get ice-cream, Scar," I said tiredly.

"Right," she grumbled. "Fine."

The shop lady standing near us by the changing rooms gave us a strange look. "Alright, love?"

"Yes, yes, all good," I said politely. "I'll just pass her things to try on." She nodded and lumbered to the front of the otherwise empty shop.

"Let me know if you need anything!"

Scar begrudgingly tried on all of the clothes and handed me a few 'vetoes' – the sweatpants and two of the t-shirts. Through the door, she said, "As usual, Al, you're a perfect judge of what fits and what I'll wear. I even quite like the hoodie. The blouse is a bit of a stretch, but I'll take it if you insist. Now, can we please just buy this and go?"

"Well," I said impishly, "There is one more item to try on.

She groaned. "Oh, yeah, a coat. Look, I'll just dress and we can try it one out there, okay? I want ice-cream."

"Fine, fine," I said. I couldn't wait to get her reaction to the coat. "But close your eyes as you come out."

She sighed. "You're being ridiculous."

But she did as I asked, even sticking her arms out behind her so that I could put the coat onto her.

Grinning, I dusted off her shoulders and spun her around to see the mirror. "Right. Open your eyes."

As she did, she gasped. "Oh, _Alyss._" Her eyes shone as she took it in, and she spun around again to squeeze the life out of me. I grinned. I knew she would like it.

We bought the clothes, much to the delight of the shopkeeper, and made our way back into the frigid air. Scar refused to take the coat off in the shop, and she looked very cosy as she buttoned herself up. "Come along, dear sister. I need cookie-crumble fudge!"

The ice-cream parlour was warm inside, full – apparently, there were many others who were as crazy as my sister – and it smelled delicious – perhaps it was a good idea to come here after all. Scar smiled at me, and told me that she was going to get us something heavenly. She pushed her way up to the crowded front.

"Scar, take off your coat, it's warm in here!" I called after her.

She turned around, looked me in the eye, and deliberately turned her collar up. I rolled my eyes. She could be so ridiculous sometimes.

It didn't take long to produce two _giant _bowls of ice-cream, and she still refused to take off the coat as I laughed at her.

"I can't just take it off," she insisted. "Does Batman take off his Batsuit when he's out? Does the eleventh doctor take off his bowtie?"

"His bowtie doesn't cause him to overheat," I said dryly.

"This coat might protect me!" she continued.

"How, exactly?"

"Well, I saw this movie trailer to this one horror movie about the gates of hell being in the catacombs of Paris, and they showed you scary images from your childhood, and –"

"Oh my god, Scar, where the hell is this going?"

She glared at me. "I do not appreciate your bad puns. Just listen! If I have a happy thing on me at all times, I can't be hurt by sad images, okay?"

"You're weird," I decided. "Besides, why would the gates of hell be in the catacombs of Paris?"

"I know, it's so cliché – another mass grave around hell! No, watch the gates of hell actually be situated somewhere happy, like a –"

"Zoo?"

"No."

"Ice-cream store?"

"No! I was thinking, like, an opium den, or something."

I burst into laughter. "Wow, Scar. Such a happy place! Does Satan himself pop up for a smoke sometimes."

"I don't know. Does he?" She looked at me pointedly, stifling her own hysterics.

"Oi! Don't be insinuating anything! Or uncovering my secret identity!" I tried to pout (and glare), but laughter at the ridiculousness of our conversation kept bubbling up.

"Hey, Scarlett! SCARLETT!"

Suddenly, her friends Lily and Hugo were making a beeline to our table. I'd finally get to meet them.

She turned around, saw them, and her face lit up. "Hey, guys!" she said happily. "Have you met my sister, Alyss?"

"I don't think so – not formally, anyway." Lily smiled sweetly at me. Hugo gasped.

"Oh my god. I adore your shorts!" He came over and high fived me enthusiastically. "Where did you get them?"

"I made them," I said happily. I loved it when my work was admired.

"That is so cool. So, Scarlett, darling, how was shopping?" he swept over the brown bags that held her new clothes and peered inside. Lily and Scarlett exchanged a fond and exasperated look.

Scarlett fluffed up her collar once again, obviously wanting her friends to notice her new coat. "It was alright."

Glancing back up at Lily, she asked, "Aren't you supposed to be on a date?"

"He insulted the Chudley Cannons," she said dryly. "And then was an ass about it."

"And so I took pity on my dear cousin and accompanied her down here!" Hugo finished enthusiastically. "Say, can we join you? I need ice-cream."

"Um, actually –" Scar began to say, but before she could send her friends away, I interrupted her.

"Please do! I thought I would go grab a bite to eat at the Three Broomsticks anyway, and I have homework to do besides which, so I'd probably need to get going soon anyway." I was casual. I didn't want Scar to miss out on any friendship fun.

"Oh, please stay," Scar said unhappily.

"Oh, do!" Hugo agreed enthusiastically. Lily nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about it, loves. I need to get going." I kissed Scar on the cheek and, as I passed her friends, whispered "compliment her new coat – she loves her new coat."

I smiled over my shoulder and, as I walked away, heard a sudden frenzy of "Scarlett! That coat is simply _spectacular!"_

As I entered the Three Broomsticks a few minutes later, I felt like a complete idiot. First of all, the place was packed. Completely.

And I hated being alone in crowded places. People tried to talk to you and make you feel less lonely! It was a horrific possibility.

Secondly, Albus and his date were sitting in a corner booth, and seemed to be quite enjoying themselves. This was just cruel.

But no! I refused to let that get the better of me! I wanted to try butterbeer, so butterbeer I would try. There was no way that Albus would see me here alone.

(Perhaps I would skip out on the food, though. No use making my misery longer than necessary.)

I elbowed my way to the bar, and waited to be served by the harried woman standing behind it. Hopefully this would be quick and painless. As she finally got around to serving me, I smiled sweetly, hoping that a little charm would make her frown less severe – it was a bit terrifying.

"One small butterbeer, please," I said with my smile on full-force.

She grunted and slapped it down in front of me. When I lingered at the bar, hoping I could down it and go, she glared at me and told me to move because I was "holdin' up business."

So now I had to drink a butterbeer, and I was alone, without a table, and hiding from my best friend – you know, the one I had a crush on that was on a date with another girl.

Fantastic.

And, as luck would have it, he spotted me as soon as I escaped from the throng around the bar.

"Alyss!" He waved madly at me through the throng and I sighed. Taking a great gulp of the warm liquid, which was delicious and sweet, I strode over to his table.

"Hey, man," I said casually. "What's up?"

"Hey, Duchess!" he said enthusiastically.

"No, that one's awful, that makes me sound like a stripper," I laughed, and decided to be Super Frikking Civil to his date. "Hi. My name's not Duchess, Albus likes to call me names from Alice in Wonderland. I'm Alyss Little." My voice was quiet, but polite. Yay me!

"I know who you are," she said snippily. "Watch my things, Albus? I need to pop to the loo."

I blinked. "Rude. Who stole her Cheerios?"

Albus looked at my wildly, his eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hair. He looked a little crazy. "Oh my god, Alyss, you need to get me out of here. This Jilly chick. She's mental. No, she's a complete bore! No, she's mental _and _boring. Help me!"

He was practically twitching. I laughed. "Why are you on this date in the first place? Really, you should just stick it out, weirdo. Only one day."

"Please, Alyss! Please don't make me!" He was pouting, and it was adorable.

I glared halfheartedly at him. "Don't be mean."

"Come on. I'll buy you food! I'll give you chocolate. How's that, hmm? Please, please, please?" He was seemingly desperate, especially as Jilly had just left the bathroom and was stalking back over to the booth.

"Fine," I hissed. "Play along."

As she neared the table, I started talking like we had been having a panicked conversation about Cassie.

"Basically, I'm so glad I found you, Albus. Cassie's in a terrible way – she's really scaring me. She refuses to go to the hospital wing, and she's throwing up everywhere, and I just can't take care of her alone." At this point, Jilly was very near to the table, and could hear us. I began to get up from the table, and Albus mirrored me, looking concerned. "I mean, Cassie would have killed me if I interrupted Rose and Scorp's date, you know? I'm so sorry to interrupt you, I really am, I just-" At this point I sighed wearily, rubbing my eyes, and Albus concernedly put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm no Healer."

"What's going on?" Jilly snapped.

Albus looked at her mournfully. "One of my friends is really sick. I'm so sorry, Jill, I need to go take care of them." He sighed. "I've gotten the bill, will you be okay?"

Jilly looked like she was going to say to. Selfish bitch.

"We have to hurry, Albus, I she's not doing well."

"Right." We hurried off, leaving the poor girl staring after us in confusion and disappointment.

"Thank you," Albus whispered as we got outside, sweeping his hand through his messy mop of black hair, and I nodded begrudgingly.

I felt a bit guilty by helping Albus escape from his date, because it certainly made me feel a whole lot better about him. How annoying.

"You owe me, Potter."

"I know. I'll pay up, don't worry," he said, waggling his eyebrows, and the tension shattered.

And I had a lovely (even if I was feeling a bit wistful) walk back to the carriages with my oblivious, adorable friend.

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><p><em><strong>Okay, I hope that wasn't too boring a chapter. But at least I got to Hogsmeade this time, haha! I'll work on more AlAl interaction for the next few chapters – there is going to be a particularly nice moment coming up in the next few chapters, so stay tuned! X**_

_**(Did I just say "stay tuned?")**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi everybody! Here's the next chapter, which will hopefully take care of the mystery of the Hufflepuff ;) I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, be sure to review and let me know. If you hate it, please tell me that too! I would really appreciate it! **

**I'll get the next chapter out ASAP.**

**Much love, **

**SarWolf xoxo**

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><p>Chapter 15<p>

"Bored."

I turned my unhappy eyes to the rest of my table in our potions class. Luckily, we were allowed to choose our own seating, but that barely made up for what a tool Professor Attbury was. He refused to stretch my obviously genius mind, and didn't acknowledge whenever I presented him a perfect concoction. _And _he was really, really hot.

It was an unfortunate combination. I couldn't help but fidget and doodle as I listened to another mind-numbing lecture on the possible danger of Felix Felicis. Like, how many ways is it possible to list possible dangers and side-effects? Only _this _guy could, apparently.

Usually, I would be passing notes with my friends, or reading something, but I had forgotten my novel by my bed. Rose was taking diligent, detailed notes, Cassie was staring dreamily at the Professor, Scorpius was watching the front of the room, ready to correct and humiliate if our Professor made a mistake, and Albus was sleeping.

As all of the others were otherwise occupied, I poked Albus in the side and pouted at his closed eyes. "Albussssssss. I'm bored!"

He twitched and snuffled at me. "I'll take fifty grams, my sweet sunflower." Shifting to be slightly more comfortable, he began to snore lightly.

Cassie turned around to smirk at me. "And how, exactly, are you bored? I mean, yeah, the lecture sucks, but just watch the man and his nice, strong arms." Her eyes turned slightly glassy. "You should really ask him why he doesn't like you. Then, when I go into his room to ask, he could lean towards me, his eyes would darken, his muscles would flex. He could take my arm and pin me up against the wall and kiss me until -"

"Woah there!" I said quickly, vaguely disturbed and also a bit amused. "How did that make any sense? Do we have a crush on the potions master, Cass?"

She snapped out of her daze. "Course not. That would be completely ridiculous. I have a… guy, remember?" She frowned, and straightened, turning back to the professor at the front.

I smirked. "Uh huh."

_Methinks the lady doth protest too much_. I'd have to follow that one up. Perhaps after this lesson I could ask her about it?

"And I want twelve inches on the detriments of Felix for Monday," Attbury snapped, bringing me out of my very deep thoughts. "You are dismissed."

Rose and Scorp rose simultaneously from the desk and began to gather their things. "You're on Albus duty, Little," Scorp said happily, and began to walk out of the dungeon, arm in arm with his girlfriend. "Ciao, love!"

I sighed. "Cass? Help?"

"Nah," she said quickly. "I need to discuss something with Attbury. I didn't entirely understand the point of the potion, so…" She trailed off, looking at me helplessly.

Right. She didn't understand, my ass. Now was my chance to get to the bottom of what exactly was going on in Cassie's life. Now that I thought of it, she _had _seemed a bit odd, lately. So I shrugged again, pretending utter disinterest.

It was going to be way too easy. How irritating.

"Whatever. I need to get Albus to the next lesson, anyway. He needs to stop skipping during my free period, it's bad for him."

Albus was actually being very sweet – but I wasn't going to admit that. That would be admitting to a crush, and since the crush was not reciprocated, that would not be something I was willing to do.

Besides, crushes were only fun before they were extinguished. I didn't needa boyfriend – I had never had a real one before, and that hadn't stopped me from having fun out and about. And I hated to think that our friendship would spiral into something soppy and boring if anything were to happen.

Not that I was averse to pretty kisses and illicit affairs, or anything silly like that. There was nothing wrong with a bit of romance, except for the potential for pain you allowed.

None of these justifications stopped the stupid pang of jealousy I felt for Jilly, whenever she walked by (not that Albus had asked her out again) or even the happy couple (Scorpius and Rose).

I refused to be pathetic. So it was time to be perfectly normal, _thank you very much._

I left my bookbag on my seat and poked Albus again. "C'mon, you big weirdo. Let's go, hey?"

He shot up and blinked wearily. "Wazzut?"

I attempted to haul him up and out of the classroom, and he stumbled about until we reached the adjacent corridor.

"Oh, no!" I smacked my hand against my head. Albus blinked at me sleepily. "Go to class, Al, I've forgotten my bookbag in the dungeon. I have free period, so you don't need to worry about me being late…. Or anything. Okay?" I patted him on the shoulder. "Ciao!"

"But I thought we were going to hang out!" Albus shouted after me. I could practically hear the pout. This would be good for him.

And for me and my silly little hormones.

As I retraced my steps, I realized that it was possible that I was about to walk into something rather scarring. Honestly, though, I needed to get to the bottom of things, didn't I? Besides, my little scheme was completely transparent, surely Cassie would _know _I was coming.

Oh, no. What if she didn't? What if she really _was _being as dense as I thought she was being? I started to stress about the details. It was always at this part of the plan that I started to overthink. My palms started to sweat, and I began to shake like a leaf in autumn. Did I really have to be so nosey?

The corridor suddenly seemed stiflingly hot, and all of the students must have gotten to their classrooms by now, because it was dead silent. My footsteps seemed ridiculously loud on the stone floors, and a sense of dread had settled onto my shoulders like a pack of lead weights.

I sighed. Too late now! My bag was still in the classroom. If the Professor was alone in his classroom, I decided I would confront him about his behaviour towards me.

There! Good excuse the second.

But I already had a good excuse.

At this rate, I should have been placed in Hufflepuff. The very thought made me shudder.

But then I stopped and told myself off because that seemed a bit derogatory. Hufflepuffs were lovely types. It was unfair of me to be unkind to them, right?

Totally.

If anybody had seen me at that moment, in the dungeons, surrounded by walls of impressive stone, talking to myself, they would have had me committed. Swell.

As I approached the door, I squared my shoulders and knocked before I could lose my nerve. I heard a muffled thump and some shuffling from inside the room – probably Cassie going to hide. How predictable.

I strode into the room with a (completely fabricated) dignified air, and nodded at Attbury. "Sir. Sorry to disturb your free lesson, but I managed to leave my bag in here, so I'll just get it and ask you why you hate me so much."

I froze, one hand on the strap of my bag, and realized that I had meshed both Plan A (retrieve the bag) and Plan B (interrogate until the subject breaks) into one painful mess. How unfortunate.

As I realized this, Attbury was wildly straightening his tie while leaning against his desk at the front of the class (and obviously hoping I wouldn't notice his partially untucked shirt).

"Little," he said coolly. His calm voice was a stark contrast to the rest of his mussed appearance. "What are you implying?"

Frick Frack. I was in for it now. This was _not _how I expected this unplanned meeting to go. Ah, goodbye, sweet world! I could feel my cheeks slowly being infused with the darkest possible shade of red, blood slowly rising in my veins and threatening to drown me in the utter humiliation that came with a botched plan.

Well, all or nothing, I supposed. I couldn't just flee, that would be showing weakness. I needed to get rid of the blush in my cheeks, or I would spontaneously combust.

Oh, I should have told Albus I cared before I was fed into the great Maw!

So I straightened and hoped not to say anything too incriminating. "Sir, I've noticed that you don't particularly like me with how you treat me in class. I would like for you to explain why, as I am taking the NEWT level course and receive top marks." _Oh, fantastic, Little. Really eloquent! _

His haphazard tie forgotten, Attbury drew up and seemed to puff out his chest indignantly. His cool voice became icier than an Arctic wind. "Why, Miss Little," he said dangerously, "never have I come across such impudence in a child –"

Now, before my parent's accident, before I became angrier on a daily basis than even Attbury could comprehend, this kind of comment would have made me cry. Old Me hated to rock the boat. Old Me wanted her teachers to love her.

But New Me despised being talked to like an ungrateful child, and was a great deal stronger. Besides, Attbury had to be barely five or six years my elder, and I would not be condescended to.

"No." I looked at him, the man who really was nothing more than a boy, and his dishevelled clothes, and snorted. "I said nothing out of line. I have done nothing wrong. I am not an unpleasant learner, and I can make potions very well. But hear me well, _sir, _for I will not bring this up again. I will not be discriminated against. I don't care if you don't like the muggle-raised background, or if you think I'm not good enough, or too good –" at that, he flinched, and I wondered if I had hit the nail on the head, "but you will stop being outwardly hostile in lessons. You will stop favouring anybody over me, and you will be a hell of a lot more fair. Is that clear?" I smiled and shrugged. "I can make things very difficult for you." The man blanched, completely buying it. I couldn't, of course – I wouldn't, because you can't just _hex _a teacher and I really didn't feel like ruining him or Cassie, but he didn't have to know that.

Wow, I had more passive aggression stored up than I had realized. I, if I did say so myself, could be _terrifying. _How wonderful!

And then, as if that entire exchange had not happened, I let warmth and kindness suffuse my face and I smiled sweetly at him. He nodded, dumbfounded, at my words.

It was almost too easy. How boring.

"Right!" I said cheerfully. "Cassie, if you wouldn't mind coming out?"

Attbury stiffened. "I don't know what-"

"No, no, William. It's all right." An equally dishevelled Cassie came out from the supply cupboard and looked at me questioningly. "How on earth did you know?"

Attbury threw up his hands. "Is nothing around here a secret, ever?"

We shushed him simultaneously. "How did I know? I didn't. I suspected only this morning because of the whole crush-fantasy thing, so I decided to see if I was right. You're not that hard to figure out, Cass. Everyone else is just dense."

She frowned. "I was so good at hiding it, too!"

"So good at hiding it?" I asked disbelievingly. "Lovely, I sussed you out the minute you abruptly insisted you were to stay behind. What happened to your Hufflepuff?"

"There never was a Hufflepuff, that was just a cover. I've been setting this up since last year, of course. I'm very good at hiding things, usually. John, who you saw me with, is an old friend who mostly hangs out with other Hufflepuffs but he agreed to help me when I saw him this summer."

"Not bad, kid. I'll give you that." I nodded appreciatively. "Hogsmeade?"

Cassie smiled smugly. "I never went down, I had to fake a flu. We went on a picnic instead." That made sense – when we got back, people asked Cassie how she was feeling, but I had just chalked it up to my using her as an excuse to get Albus out of his date.

Genius.

"Well, that's that, I suppose. I'll leave you to it. Oh, and don't forget about our little chat, Professor? Be sure to add on to the end that you shouldn't hurt Cassie, over here, or I will make your life miserable. Savvey?" I jauntily tipped an imaginary hat at the couple.

Before swanning out I saw Attbury's jaw opening and closing senselessly and Cassie grinning after me in the large dungeon. Ah, a good day's work done.

I may have been wicked for taunting and managing teachers, but _boy, _was it _fun._

* * *

><p><strong>There we go, hope that was alright. See you all soon! <strong>


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"It's Halloween on Friday," Cassie said happily to the group, relaxing as they were on the grass outside the castle. "We need costumes."

I sat upright from my position under the tree by the lake. Scorpius had his head on Rose's lap, I was leaning against the tree trunk, Cassie was dipping her toes in the lake, and Albus was sprawled next to me.

Wincing, I couldn't believe I had forgotten my favourite holiday of the entire year. It was incredibly lax of me. Ideas for costumes began to race through my head and I contemplated how I would pull them off. Faerie? I could dye my skin green and give myself wings! Warrior queen? I could transfigure my plastic sword into a real one!

Don't ask me why I have a plastic sword.

"Why?" Rose asked lazily. "Hogwarts isn't celebrating, it's not like it's a huge deal around here."

Very suddenly, four pairs of eyes were trained on the poor girl with expressions ranging from utterly dumbfounded to hurt and betrayed. She shifted uncomfortably. "Are costumes really necessary?"

I gasped, clutching a hand to my chest as Albus groaned, seemingly in pain. "Rose Weasley! Halloween is the one day of the year in which you get to be whomever you choose, wear whatever you want, and find freedom in your 24 hour alter ego. You _can't possibly _just _not _dress up! Besides, we can be the cool kids who _are celebrating._"

Ah, Halloween. That meant dressing up _and _chocolate! It was definitely the best day of the year for me.

"And I was _thinking,_" Cassie said, glaring at the cruel interrupters, "We could go as a group costume. The four seasons, actually. What do you say?"

"Er, Cass?" Scorp said distractedly. "You realize that there are five of us, right?"

"Oh yeah…". Cassie looked incredibly put out, her 'great' idea thwarted with that pesky little thing called 'reason'.

"That's alright!" Albus sniffed. "I'll be a pirate. All in leathers and with a sword and a little bit of stubble and a pet parrot!" He nodded sagely and waggled his eyebrows in what he must have thought was a very sexy way. "Pirates are _dashing._"

We all collectively rolled our eyes. He pouted. "What?"

Turning away, Cassie's bright smile had returned. "That settles it! We," she gestured to herself, Scorpius, Rose and I, "Will go as the four seasons."

Her stern, no-nonsense glare cut off any protest we had. Albus smirked at me, mouthing "Season!"

I rolled my eyes at him, sending a glare that _obviously _said "I will be a really hot season, thank you very much."

"I have dibs on summer," Cassie carried on. "I already have a costume for it. It'll be swell. Rose, you're autumn, because of your hair." Rose instinctively reached up to pat her ridiculously fiery locks and scowled at our friend. "Alyss, you get to be winter, and Scorp, that leaves you with-"

She was abruptly cut off with cries of argument from Scorp and me.

"Winter? Why do I have to be winter?"

"I'm spring? I have to wear _flowers? _How is this badass in any way? _I want to be a pirate!" _

Albus nodded wisely at Scorp's words. "Told you it was a cool costume."

"Hush, children!" Cassie's glare was back with full force. "Behave!"

We quietened under her stare.

"Scorpy, darling, you have that tousled look down pat, with your hair just kind of messy enough to look windswept and things. You've got the whole pure adorable innocent thing down to a science, but we all know" she hastily added, to mollify his obviously wounded look, "that you are deep and manly and things. You big weirdo. Alyss, however, has that whole dark and twisty thing on the surface, and everyone thinks she's quite mysterious. Look, even now she's kind of smouldering at me, see?"

I quickly rearranged my face into a neutral expression. "I do not smoulder."

"Yes, you do!" Albus said, rolling onto his back. "It makes it hard for all of us to stop falling in love with you constantly. Such an inconvenience, really. And just _awkward _when it comes to Scorp and Rose, if both of them can't keep you out of their thoughts!"

He shook his head mournfully.

I grumbled. "Whatever."

"Please, guys?" Cassie widened her eyes, begging us just to accept her grand plan.

Really, she looked so sad that we weren't interested in her plan that we had to acquiesce. Annoying little bugger.

"Right! That's settled then!" She said, cheerfully. Getting up, she began to walk towards the castle. As if she suddenly remembered something, she quickly backtracked to our little group and said, "Oh, and there's a party in the Gryffindor common room on Halloween night. We're going."

And before we had a chance to object to this unfortunate idea, she was halfway back to the castle.

I sat in the Room of Requirement, staring at an unclothed mannequin. I wanted to have the most eye-catching costume in the room. Really, that was the only way to actually make the party fun.

Why I would want to go to a party on a perfectly good Friday night astounded me! I could be curled up in front of a fireplace, reading, or in the Room, skyping Poppy or Amy, or watching Doctor Who. There was a wealth of things to do, and I had to go to a _party. _

This was probably what my parents had meant when they teased me about being antisocial.

Anyway, I knew I would go. I didn't want to miss anything; I wanted people to see the absolutely fabulous costume I was about to make, and I knew that I should really be slightly more social. Maybe I would get to snog somebody; maybe I would get myself over Albus.

Yeah, fat chance. Nobody snogged the weird new kid at a party, no matter how cool their costume was. And when was the last time I was asked on a date?

Oh, that's right.

Shaking myself out of the stupid bout of self pity, I returned to the task at hand. It was Wednesday, straight after school. I had around two and a half days to make myself the coolest costume ever. I had the Room of Requirement, which had given me a sewing machine, a brilliant workroom and practically an entire fabric warehouse.

It was a dream come true, frankly.

Winter. _Winter. _I refused to be another Elsa-from-Frozen cosplayer – as cool as that would be, I wanted to be original.

Turning away from my sad-looking mannequin, I began to browse fabric bolts. There were so many different colours and textures!

But what to choose?

My eyes wandered the vast room until they landed on this amazing silk. It was such a light blue that it seemed white, and shimmered like sunlight hitting snow. It was almost iridescent.

It was perfect.

I gasped as I touched it, surprised at how light it was. The silk was softer than down, and would be absolutely perfect for a winter dress. The dress would be cut low, with an equally low back, with a silvery lace that would work perfectly to cover the bodice, including the low cut neck and back line.

I flew back to my worktable and began to sketch.

A slim skirt would suffice, I thought, with a slit up to my thigh. I couldn't have the skirt hugging my legs – I felt a bit too curvy for that, and was ridiculously uncomfortable with such clothing – but it wasn't going to be a full ball gown. That would be overkill.

So, as slim as I felt I could handle, and a slit to make the good-girl image from the skirt go away. Perfect. I could wear a midnight blue, fur-lined cloak and my makeup could be charmed easily – the paler, the better.

Suddenly, I felt very hungry. A meal appeared next to my elbow and I quickly ate it, and then continued to sketch. As soon as I could, I would begin my pattern, and then the actual design! Hopefully it wouldn't take too long to make.

Nah, I had magic! This would be way easier to finish than most of my other projects.

Easy peasy.

"_Albus! Scorp! We found her!" _

No! I wanted to sleep! I was so happy and comfortable on this couch next to my worktable. Besides, my costume was nearly done, thank goodness – I was right in saying that it hadn't taken long – and all I wanted to do was sleep! Magic had done wonders to get the outfit done in one afternoon – how I had managed it, I had no idea – but at this point, I wanted to be left alone.

"Jeez," I heard a voice say, with an intake of breath. "Has she been in here the whole time?"

I groaned. "Go away. I'm busy."

"The poor thing must be exhausted," another voice clucked. "But at least she took my Halloween idea seriously."

"Seriously?" said yet another voice. "This is insane! You're crazy! She's crazy! She always has been! What have we done?"

"M fine," I grumbled. "Just go away."

"Come on, we need to take her to the common room." I felt hands trying to lift me, and that woke me up immediately.

"Hey!" I said blearily, blinking to see my friends gathered around me. "What are you doing, huh?"

"You need to go to bed," said a cautious blob-like Scorp, who had tried to pick me up. "You've been in here way too long, okay?"

"What do you mean?" I stumbled unsteadily to my mannequin, tossing a sheet over my creation. "I got my costume done in, like, an afternoon. I'm a genius! And sewing spells really, _really _help. I need to use them more often."

There was a charged silence, and I turned around to see my friends exchanging looks.

"What?" I said confusedly.

"Okay, sweetie," Rose said slowly. "We don't mean to startle you, but it's Thursday night, right before curfew. We need to get you to bed before anyone reports you missing, okay?"

I cringed. "Nope. Nope. It is _Wednesday _night. I'm a dressmaking genius! I got this done _real _quick."

"No, Alyss," Scorp said softly. "Let's get you to bed, okay? Everyone thinks you had a migraine so you stayed in bed today. The party is tomorrow, Al, you need to get some sleep."

"I worked for this long?" I asked, annoyed. "Why didn't you stop me?"

"I didn't know where you were, Al." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Hm. Fine. I'm going to bed." I turned on my heel and started to stalk towards the door. "Goodnight," I said, with dignity, "I'll see you all tomorrow."

I smacked into the door and fell to the floor. Maybe I was more tired than I thought.

"Okay!" Albus said hurriedly. "I'm going to carry her."

"No, don't be silly –"

But, despite my protests, my little retrieval crew had me up, and were ferrying me down the many flights of stairs to my dorm in the dungeons.

To be honest, I didn't remember much from the trip down. I fell asleep, apparently, in Albus's arms. Almost immediately.

Just brilliant.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, sorry that that was a bit of an unsatisfactory ending. I'll try to update ASAP (brace yourself for an interesting next chapter ;) ). Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and to all of you who are reading! <strong>

**Also, I've been informed by theflatmatewholived (a friend of mine irl) that I should have a deadline day for the release of each chapter each week. I was thinking Mondays, but I may not have one out this coming Monday – but I'll definitely try. However, starting in the New Year (because the next few weeks are going to be a bit hectic due to going on holiday and Christmas and things) I will try to have a chapter out every Monday. Until then, I will attempt to stick to that deadline, but it may be a bit erratic because of all the aforementioned holiday things. **

**Much love to all of you!**

**Xxxx**

**SarWolf**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Ready?"

Cassie grinned at Rose and me. We were all clad in full Halloween regalia and were standing in front of a mirror in the Slytherin seventh year girls' dormitory. We looked fantastic – especially me, if I did say so myself. For around twenty-six hours of work, this dress was certainly something to behold.

However, it hadn't come without its price. When I woke up this morning, I got a severe (but incredibly smug) dressing down from Cassie, and then, in the dining hall, another telling off from Scarlett.

Well, not so much a telling off as a "dragging outside and being beaten up." As soon as she saw me, Scar practically imploded, and once we were alone, she slapped me, hugged me, and then slapped me again. I could practically still hear the shrieks ("How dare you run off without telling any of us! Have you even slept? Migraine, my ass! I looked in your bed, you weren't there! It was nearly impossible to keep from the teachers, you big lout!"), and it took me almost an hour to pacify her.

Once I did, she told me that the costume had better be worth it, and that she would see me at the party later that night. She then stalked off in a huff and, at my calls of "It's _art_, Scarlett", she flipped me off.

Nobody truly appreciates what I go through to create. _Sigh._

When I sat down and the table, Rose had just said "I'm glad you're alive", Scorpius rolled his eyes at me for scaring him, and Albus teased me about being a complete machine (after messing up my hair and stealing my bacon).

I stole his coffee and drank it while he laughed at the expression on my face.

Cassie seemed confused as to how I managed to go without eating much for so long, since she knew about how much I managed to consume on a daily basis. When I had told her about the plate of food just kind of appearing when I was hungry, she was sceptical. Apparently, the Room didn't provide food – its magic couldn't create food, or something like that, so that should have been impossible. The food had, however, definitely appeared, and despite how distracted I was when I was working on a design, I figured I couldn't have hallucinated it. Maybe the Room was stocked and could put together meals with the provided food?

Who knew?

Anyway, nobody seemed to be any the wiser about my absence (my friends are true wizards, honestly), which means that I would be attending this party reluctantly, but in the most fabulous costume ever created. I even got to charm it this year! Which led to this: me primping in front of a mirror with two of my friends.

I had to admit, the icy colours of my gown certainly did scream "winter". But Rose was absolutely spot on with a dress that seemed to be made of falling leaves (apparently she transfigured a pair of orange dress robes) and Cassie was wearing a microscopic bikini, red lipstick, sunglasses, beach waves, flip-flops, and not much else.

She was going all out.

I turned back to the mirror and decided that the dress itself, the dramatic eye makeup and the dead straight hair just weren't enough. I needed something to make the outfit just that little crazier. A personal flurry? I could do that easily, just a simple charm. But the hair and makeup still weren't doing it for me. I cocked my head at my reflection.

My hair was too dark blonde to scream "winter" properly. If I could dye it white-blonde and my skin paler than it already was…

Another swish of my wand and I had Rose and Cassie turning around to stare.

"See?" Cassie gestured to my completed costume. "_This _is what I'm talking about! This is the kind of dedication that I need!"

Rose rolled her eyes at Cassie and nodded at me approvingly. "Just put on the cloak and you'll be perfect!"

After doing so, Cassie stood back and looked at us happily. "There! We're perfect. Let's go break some hearts at that party, shall we?"

As mentioned before, I hated parties. There was always an abundance of loud music, and I looked ridiculous dancing in public. I seldom drank, and being sober when pretty much everyone else was drunk was boring. And you were expected to chat to everybody around you, which was horribly awkward.

Back home, when I had been invited to parties, I didn't often go. I was very good at making excuses for myself. When I felt obliged to go, I had to take an abundance of anti-stress medication just to keep myself calm.

It was annoying, to say the least.

I felt the familiar panic rising in my throat (despite all I did to relieve it) as we drew closer to the Gryffindor common room. Rose, who was pretty good at seeing when others were uncomfortable, leant over to squeeze my hand.

"Don't worry, Al," she whispered. "Scorp and I won't leave your side unless you want us to."

They were too kind to me.

I smiled gratefully at my friend as we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Rose whispered the password, and we stepped through the portrait hole in formation – Cassie at the head of our little triangle, and Rose and I flanking her. My dress and cloak trailed behind me dramatically as we took in a party already in full swing.

There was already loud music, slutty costumes, and couples in dark corners. Just as I had predicted.

As we wandered through the rowdy crowd, a girl whose name I had forgotten stumbled over to us and threw her arms around me. "Great costume, guys!" she slurred. "Like, Alyss, where did you get that _dress?_"

"I made it," I mumbled. She stank of Firewhiskey, punch and cigarette smoke.

"_Awesome."_

"C'mon, girls, let's go find the boys," scoffed Cassie, eyeing the girl, who had stumbled over to another group, with contempt.

We pushed our way around the dance floor to a bunch of couches, where Albus and Scorpius were debating something happily with an enthusiastic bunch of Ravenclaws. I decided to hang back from our group slightly, nervous about how large the group we were about to breach was. I mean, I hardly knew half of those Ravenclaws, and only one or two did I actually know the names of.

My heart started to beat faster, my limbs started to quiver, and I felt as if I was going to throw up. This was awful, and I had no idea why I agreed to it in the first place.

Oh yeah, my need to show off my Halloween costume. My vanity would be the death of me.

"Hey, guys!" Cassie interrupted the group, cheerful as ever. She smiled at all of the Ravenclaws and then appraised Scorpius, who had donned a green outfit with leaves all over it and was wearing a flower crown. "Nice headpiece, Malfoy."

He smirked and bowed. "Your wish is my command, Cass."

Rose went over to him and whispered something into his ear, smiling happily and slipping her hand into his. He seemed to melt.

Albus turned around, and craned his neck to search the room for something, his eyes sliding over me and continuing around the room. "Where's Alyss?"

Cass smirked and pulled me from the shadow I was lurking in. I scowled. I was perfectly happy, and in no danger of throwing up, thank you very much, in the shadows. I was ice.

"She's right here, Albus." Cassie shook her head at him, rolling her eyes.

Albus looked at me, looked around, and then looked back at me in surprise. I heard the Ravenclaws and Scorpius commenting on my outfit in the background ("the charms she must have used on the flurry are genius" and "Whoop she pulled that shit off again" respectively). Albus, however, seemed to have a mental blank. His whole body was stuttering in shock.

And that is how you do a proper costume. People should be able to just barely recognize you. What I was meant: the hair and skin dye worked like a charm.

I tossed the waterfall of straight, heavy hair and smirked at the group, pretending that I wasn't completely out of my depth at this party. "I'm glad you guys like it."

Albus choked. "Alyss, wow. That's quite incredible. Great costume. Fantastic use of you time." He stuck out his hand to shake and when I looked at him with utter confusion – we hugged or tousled each other's hair or shoved each other in greeting pretty much every day – he flushed and ruffled his hair.

I nodded awkwardly and punched his shoulder lightly. "Thanks, man. Glad you like it. Yours is cool too."

He shuffled his feet. He was wearing leather trousers with a puffy white top tucked into them. His torso was criss-crossed with a number of leather straps to hold the sword at his hip, and, I'm sure, a bunch of handy different items. He also sported a blue seaman's coat and one of those three cornered hats. It was all very Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled.

It was then that I realized that the rest of the little circle were watching our exchange amusedly, so I turned back and smiled brightly, giving Rose a look that screamed "start a conversation or I'm going to explode".

Everyone dissolved back into conversation as Rose effortlessly directed the attention away from Albus and me. She was a real gem.

I would have stuck with Rose and Scorpius after the initial little group broke up, but the poor things were obviously hormonal and needed to get a room in a big way.

Third wheeling sucked.

Cassie was not an option, she was far too energetic and seemed to flit from one group to the next, and I couldn't possibly keep up, and Albus had disappeared some time ago. So I decided that it was time to be as antisocial as possible in such an environment.

I went over to the table with the punch and snacks on it and grabbed a cup of the stuff – drinking usually wasn't my thing, but I needed to stop shaking (don't drink, kids!) – and explored the common room until I found a relatively deserted balcony. I downed my punch with a grimace and pulled a book out of the purse I had with me.

I _was_ always prepared for anything, what could I say?

The time was nine forty-five, I had been at the party for an hour and a half, and I was obliged to be there until eleven. How dull.

But Cassie, when she laid down the rules, hadn't said anything about being at the party and _reading._ She really should have seen this coming. I settled down happily and resolved to wait out the social situation.

Perfect. The terror started to leave me.

I had been happily reading for a good amount of time when, suddenly, Albus staggered outside with a loud, cheerful "_Alyss Little!"_.

I jumped up, stored the book away and cringed. Hopefully he wouldn't tell Cassie. I swayed on my feet and stumbled over to where Albus was holding the balustrade. "Shush! If Cassie sees me out here, avoiding everything, she'll tell me off!"

I looked at him with my very best puppy eyes.

"Don't worry, snowflake girl!" he grinned, sloppily patting my shoulder. "Your secret will be kept. What are you doing out here alone, anyway?"

"I don't like crowds," I said truthfully. Was Albus swaying? He was definitely still grinning at me like a fool. He must have had a whole lot of that punch. "How much have you had to drink?"

He waved his hand airily. "Oh, not too much. People kept refilling my cup." He turned his eyes to me in earnest. "Can I hide out here with you? Jilly, and a few other girls besides, keep coming over and talking to me. One tried to sit on my lap! It was terrifying."

I laughed at his utterly plaintive expression. "Right, Al. Course you can. But if they come out here looking for you, I'm leaving you to their evil wiles, okay?"

He pouted. "Don't be mean."

I shook my head mockingly, emboldened by the Firewhiskey. "Haven't you hear, Captain? I'm very mean."

Oh my God. Had I just called him Captain? I took every positive thought about how the Firewhiskey was helping me out. I was such a hypocrite.

Albus seemed to make a decision. His joking mood was gone, and he was suddenly close enough to make me feel dizzy. "Hey, Alyss? I've been looking for you for a while. There's been something I've been wanting to do."

He was so cheesy. Not that I cared.

Before I could form a coherent thought about what, exactly, the 'something' was, and how I would probably enjoy this part of the party very much, he put his hands on my waist (they seemed to be very warm, and large) and leaned down.

Very suddenly, Albus Potter was kissing me and I had _not _seen it coming.

_**Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews, once again, and thank you for pointing out my little mistake about the Room. I figure that after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Room became more of a sanctuary than ever before, and so the house elves would have kept it stocked with food, in case anybody needed that space for a little while. That's the kind of thing that Alyss received when she was working on her dress – house elf food preserved and served by the Room. I don't think that's an infraction to the rules, but please do let me know if I'm wrong! **_

_**Thanks for reading, guys! And I'm sorry for the cliffie ;). **_

_**Xoxo **_

_**SarWolf**_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Kissing Albus was lovely.

Kissing Albus was a mistake.

The pros: I had been crushing on him since the moment he broke down the glass door of the compartment I was sitting in on the train. He was attractive. He was funny. We were very similar. I felt like my brain was melting when I was kissing him. He was one of my best friends.

The cons: I didn't want to be tied down after Hogwarts – I wanted to go to university and travel and lead my own life. He was drunk, and hadn't shown any inclination to kissing me sober. I was tipsy. This could be the start of something that I wouldn't want to end. If not, this could mean the end of our friendship, something I valued far too much. I tended to get clingy and emotionally invested in things very easily.

Hell, he was one of my best friends.

And he was still kissing me tentatively, and I was kissing him back, and it showed no signs of stopping as I, despite my better judgement, slipped my hands around my waist and pulled him close.

Stupid, stupid. Wasn't I always supposed to be independent of the things my peers craved? I had had kisses before, but none that I cared about, not really. None that felt like pop rocks or fireworks, or that tasted like chocolate cauldrons.

That was probably what drew me in. I always was a sucker for chocolate.

I could feel my parent's ghosts hovering over me – how could I feel so happy when I had yet to stop the guilt or the nightmares? – but I banished them for the meantime (albeit with a great deal of guilt – I hadn't thought about them consciously in so long).

Albus was special. He lightly traced fire across my back.

Oh, god, I was a cliché. How embarrassing. It was a good thing that nobody could read my mind.

Albus pulled back and rested his forehead against mine, breathing raggedly.

"Okay?" I asked him breathlessly, and searched for a witty remark about how he had taken his time.

"Oh, jeez, Alyss, I –" he groaned. "I'm so sorry."

Suddenly, he was gone, and I could feel the cold again. My flurry was swirling around only me, and my cloak was billowing dramatically.

And Albus went and threw up in the flowerbeds.

Suffice it to say, I fled before the embarrassingly ready tears could fall. Obviously, he had had far too much to drink, and that, along with the best kiss of my life thus far – but I supposed not his – had been too much for him.

In the morning, if he remembered, I would go back to being his friend. I liked being friends.

Friends were fantastic. Friends were safe. Friends wouldn't keep me in one place for the rest of my sorry life, fearful of heartbreak.

I ran through the common room. Cassie tried to intercept me with a "What's wrong, Queen Elsa?", but I brushed her off and continued out and away.

I heard an "Al! Wait!", but didn't stick around to see what Albus wanted. I needed to be a wet blanket for a couple hours – silly, pathetic little me – and then I could be dizzyingly sharp and witty again, tomorrow.

Brilliant. The one night I dress like an ice queen, I managed to melt.

Upon my arrival in the dungeons, I dragged myself up to my thankfully empty dorm and gorged myself on chocolate. That made me feel a great deal better, and, besides, I was always looking for an excuse to do so. It kept the tears away, and I quickly showered and dragged myself into bed.

My flurry was an easy charm to undo, but my hair and skin dye would take a few days to wear off. That was okay – it was a cool look. I would get to quietly be someone else for a few more days.

I fell into bed, cast my usual _Muffliato _instead of taking that stupid potion that was prescribed – I was just fine, thank you very much – and told myself to snap out of it and not to be such a baby.

The tears went away, and I fell asleep, but for the first time in weeks, I watched my parents die. But instead of a car crash, they were stabbed with icy daggers and drowned in bile.

Emotional turmoil was the worst.

I woke up groggy and confused, and quickly determined that I would act in a friendly manner as if nothing had happened at the party the night before.

Had I kissed a close friend? Nah.

Had he thrown up straight afterward? Nope.

Did I even need to think about this? Not even a little.

So I opened my curtains 'happily', and, determining that I had, in fact, only slept for one night, slipped past my slumbering roommates and went to gorge myself on bacon and pancakes in the kitchen. Nobody sane was awake yet – it _was_ six in the morning on a Saturday – and I could go hide somewhere nobody would think to find me after breakfast. Being awake was far safer than anything else – I was sure Cassie would have figured out what happened (she was practically Sherlock Holmes when it came to such things), Scorpius would have been told by a regretful Albus and he, in turn, would have told Rose in an exasperated tone and with many shakes of his head.

Scarlett would get it out of me the minute she saw me, and I really didn't feel like talking.

I decided that leaving a note for Cassie, explaining my intensions for the day, would keep away any unnecessary worrying on the parts of my friends. Maybe it would even stop them from looking for me for a while.

Either way, the Room was out of bounds – after the Costume Altercation, all my friends knew to look for me there. But that was all right, as I was really good at hiding when I needed to. The grounds were vast and cold, and anybody could get lost. Besides, I was a creature of winter. I would fit right in.

On top of all this, Albus didn't emerge from hibernation until twelve at the earliest on a Saturday, so I was quite safe on that account. Thinking that, I felt a bit pathetic, but I decided just to suck it up and accept that I was going to feel sorry for myself for a while.

At the kitchens, the House-Elves were eager to bring me some bacon and pancakes. They even made my pancakes with chocolate-chips. If there was anything to cure a bout of pathetic-sadness, chocolate-chip pancakes, coffee (strong) and bacon were just the thing. I would wait eagerly for my heart attack – after this bliss, it would almost be worth it.

But look! I didn't put any sugar in my coffee! I was the epitome of health.

The kind Elves, who were fast becoming my favourite creatures in the castle, also packed me a picnic limited to boxes of Honeyduke's finest chocolate, a thermos of espresso and a thick blanket. I had 'Game Of Thrones', the novel, with me, and so I would be set for the day. I could hide outside (I would keep from freezing my sheer will), read and eat chocolate. It would be brilliant.

Off I trotted, determined to lie low for the day on the grounds. I wasn't sure where I would hide until I thought about where my friends definitely wouldn't look.

The Quidditch pitch.

It was perfect. First of all, my friends would never guess that I actually decided to go outside. Secondly, they knew I avoided sports like the plague. If I hung out near the pitch, as I had argued not two weeks before, I could catch something like _team spirit. _I refused to be a cheerleader unless I absolutely was forced to watch a match by my friends.

I trudged down there, already cold, despite being bundled up in at least three sweaters, a coat, a scarf, and a hat. I really was starting to regret avoiding everybody outside.

Couldn't I have avoided everybody in a locked classroom or something?

"No, Alyss," I told myself. "Stay strong. You can do the thing."

I _could _do the thing. I would do the thing.

I settled down under one of the Quidditch bleacher seat things, wrapped myself in the blanket and began to read.

"So this is where you come to hide."

I shrieked and brandished my book like a wand, realizing too quickly that it would do absolutely nothing to intruders, especially if I was holding it like I was. 'Game of Thrones' would certainly be a painful whack on the head, but if I expected it to begin shooting sparks, I might as well be under the Full Body Bind for all the good it would do me.

Oh, wait, I practically was. My feet were swaddled together by my cocoon of a blanket, one of my arms was pinned to my side, and I had shot up from my seated position with too much enthusiasm and without thinking of the consequences.

"Oh, crap," was my only thought as I plummeted to my cold, dirty doom on the ground. At least I would be cushioned by the blanket.

My poor book. I was going down like a felled tree, or like a brick thrown from the Empire State building.

It was enough fun to make me vow never to leave the sweet inside again.

So, imagine this: I was lying on my back, dazed, and vaguely terrified, my heart beating incredibly fast because (as far as I was concerned) I had just had a Near Death Experience. I was trying to focus on the world around me and wriggle out of the prison that I had created for myself. As I tried to focus on the world around me, a head with messy black hair appeared sheepishly above me, ruffling his hair and shuffling his feet (which were visible because they stood next to my lovely, thick novel, which I had gotten at least a third of the way through).

"Oh, crap," I groaned aloud. I wriggled harder to get out of my self-inflicted fuzzy wrap of hell. "I needed a day to be alone. Can't I have that?"

"No?" Albus said hopefully, blinking at me owlishly. He coughed. "Erm, I mean, no. No, we need to talk some things out, I think."

I gave up trying to escape and Albus lay several inches away from my pathetic, worm-like form. "Communication, my dear Watson, is overrated. I need a day to lick my wounds in peace. And besides, I was hiding _here! _How did you find me?"

"How am I Watson?" Albus complained, glaring at me. He had just finished the complete works of Sherlock Holmes, so I could finally discuss it with one of my Hogwarts friends – you know, one who wasn't Scarlett. "I think I'm definitely intelligent enough to be Holmes –"

"Yes, but you're more of an extrovert," I countered. "I hate interacting with most people. We're both pretty sharp, and it's not like Watson is unintelligent. Plus, he was a doctor! It's dashing! You should be thrilled." I decided to add the childish along with the rest of my very sound reasoning. "Besides, I introduced you to the book. I get to be Holmes."

"Fine," he griped.

We lapsed into silence, me gloating to myself about my victory, Albus pouting – or, as he would put it, "brooding."

"Wait! I came up here for a reason, Caterpillar!" Albus said suddenly, sitting up and turning around to face me.

"Must we continue with the ridiculous nicknames?" I moaned, and dragged myself into my earlier reading position. I extricated another arm from my blanket so that I could get myself a hot beverage. "Espresso? What are you even doing up so early, hey?"

Ooh, I was evasive. I was good.

"It's ten o'clock, Alyss," Albus said wretchedly. "It _is_ too early for my delicate nerves to handle. I simply can't believe I'm out of bed. But when Cassie woke up an hour ago, she found your note, and she made Scorpius wake me – _at nine in the morning, Alyss _– so that I could go find you and apologize."

I looked at him doubtfully. "I really don't want a 'it was a mistake to kiss you, I was drunk, I don't think of you like that' right now, Albus Severus. It's not the best on my poor ego, to be honest. Let me have my day away from everything and we can pretend it never happened, okay?"

"But that's not—"

"Albus." I shook my head. "You're one of my closest friends. I don't know what I'd do without you. But right now, I'm embarrassed if I think about The Incident for more than a minute at a time. You just can't see the blush because my Halloween dye hasn't worn off yet. Can you please leave me alone, just for today, and let me eat my chocolate and read my novel in peace? Tomorrow we can go back to being the Audacious Als –"

"Nobody calls us the Audacious Als," he said mournfully. "They really should. Alliteration is a wonderful thing."

"— and we don't have to mention it again," I finished.

There. That was my bit out of the way. Now I had to brace myself for the "it's not you"s and "I really am sorry I don't feel that way"s.

But even as I braced myself, Albus surprised me. "That's not what I was going to say."

I opened my mouth, and then closed it when Albus put up his hand and adopted a serious expression.

"I wanted to apologize for throwing up afterwards. I'm embarrassed, you're embarrassed, hell, Scorpius is embarrassed for having to deal with the aftermath! It was a mess. I had too much to drink and I was finally making my move and I was super nervous and my gag reflex is not good. But I didn't throw up because of The Incident. I promise. That was an incredible kiss, and it was two months too late, Alyss. I'm sorry it was. And I'm sorry that our first kiss was when I was drunk."

"I'm sorry that I took advantage of you," I said dryly.

Albus mocked a gasp. "I know. I should really have you proposing, at this point. Propriety must be saved."

I snorted, and we lapsed into silence again.

"My ego is still bruised," I said insistently. "And I still need my day alone."

"Fair," Albus said, looking a bit relieved. He settled down against the wall.

I sighed at his obliviousness. "Al. That was an invitation for you to go back to the castle."

He jumped up guiltily. "Right, of course, sorry." He seemed a bit dejected as he began to leave the space under the bleachers.

"Hey Albus," I called after him. He spun around quickly and hopefully, his limbs too long and lanky for the rest of him, as usual. "Can we go back to normal tomorrow? Friends?"

He looked disappointed. "Well, I was hoping to discuss a slightly more… romantic prospect tomorrow."

I winced. "Maybe that's not such a good idea. I have a list of pros and cons to a relationship, Al, and some of the cons are pretty strong."

He perked up. "So there _is _a pros list?"

I looked at him apprehensively. "Yes."

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to work on the pros, in that case." He bounded off, throwing a "See you, Audacious Al!" over his shoulder.

I was, once again, left thinking that I had created a monster. It would take a lot for him to convince me to let go of my cons, but I knew he would try like mad.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you go, lovely readers. I finally got onto some proper AlAl. I hope you enjoyed it :)**

**Now, I may be on a short hiatus for a while due to Christmas and going away because I may not have internet, but I should be back in the first or second week of January. **

**Until then, you wonderful people! **

**Xoxo**

**SarWolf**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

If I had spent my Saturday hiding and failing to be left alone, I planned to spend Sunday being supremely lazy. When I arrived back to the dormitory at around ten at night (after a detour to the kitchens for dinner) Cassie made me stay up until two going through exactly what Albus had said and how the kiss had felt and what was happening with "your relationship, Alyss. Surely something is actually going to happen between you two – you've been eying each other since the beginning of term!"

That's the kind of thing I had to deal with until the early hours of the morning.

After four hours of assuring Cassie that I was perfectly happy not dating, thank you very much, and that Albus and I were great friends and would remain so, she finally relented – albeit a bit dramatically.

"Fine!" she had sighed. "Be single and unhappy while the potential love of your life is right here, right now! You could be making out with him as we speak, Alyssa, you fool!"

And with that, she swept off to bed with an exasperated air.

She was wrong, of course. Hogwarts was just school. I had the rest of my life to do things – to settle down and find love and be happy and make out with people.

I was only sixteen, for heaven's sake. I literally had _decades _to do that kind of thing. Who wanted to, anyway? It was just silly to even think of it at sixteen-nearly-seventeen.

Really, though – and could just barely admit it to myself (there was no way that I would ever say this out loud) – I was just scared of not living up to this little perfect bubble that everyone had of Albus and me. I was scared of having to allow myself to get hurt.

I was a big scaredy-cat, and I didn't care.

So I decided, after an awkward breakfast (filled with friends who kept staring and an Albus who tried to hold up conversation, which was difficult for him before noon), I decided to discreetly retire to the library. I could work on the Alchemy paper I had all but forgotten about, and then do some more reading.

That would be fun, right? I could avoid all people.

Or so I thought.

When I escaped to the library, it was pretty much full of people trying to get through the mountains of work that the teachers had set for us, as first term was drawing to a close. However, there was one almost-empty table with a single Hufflepuff boy sitting and working diligently. He didn't look too scary, so I decided to join him.

Because his table was the only free one, and I really needed to do that essay. Obviously.

So I strolled over to him, slightly nervous about sitting at a table with a stranger (even if I did go to his school). On the outside, I looked calm and collected as I walked lazily over.

Also obviously.

"Hey, can I sit here?" I kept my voice steady as I inwardly freaked out. The boy looked up, and I realized that he was the Japanese-British Alex-from-my-Herbology-class, but only the Herbology one. He was kind of quiet and sat in the back, but I knew he was smart. He was top every test, every assignment. Our teacher kept mentioning him, but I had never heard him say a word.

I pointed awkwardly at the chair across from him, although he barely glanced up at me before mumbling "sure."

"Thanks!" I grinned at him nervously and heaved my books onto the table.

He just carried on with his work quietly, so I took a cue from him and wrote my damn paper.

However, when I was halfway through my transmutation paper my quill broke. And, being the disorganized little fuck I was, I didn't have a replacement quill.

Being the lazy little fuck I was I didn't feel like going back for another one, or working.

And being the annoying little fuck I was, I decided to make friends with Herbology boy (so that he couldn't do any work either). It would work because he was quiet and unscary and I could deal with quiet and unscary, mostly.

I was a horrible person.

How to approach the other person? How to breach conversation?

"Alex, you're very good at Herbology," I said hopefully, eyeing his notes with a deep-seated respect.

"Yep," he mumbled carelessly.

"Aren't you in my class?" I continued.

"Uh-huh," he said.

"Why do you sit in the back?" I asked. "You're very good."

"Because." He glared at me and continued with his work.

I carried on because I was a friend-making _machine _with shit to prove. I didn't need to make out with Albus people to have fun. I would have fun with my new friend, no matter how difficult it was.

Friendship. I could do it with anyone.

"I'm Alyss! Like Wonderland! Also like insane." I pondered this, wondering if it was really the right way to introduce myself. Possibly not.

He looks at me doubtfully. "Obviously. Are you trying to steal a quill? Your one broke."

I smiled angelically (of course). "No, I'm making friends with you."

His expression morphed from doubtful into even more doubtful. "Is this a prank? Are you another person from Slytherin who will pretend to be my friend until you get what you want and then ditch me? Ella warned me last time, she _warned _me -"

I blinked in confusion. "Nope. I noticed that you sit alone, you don't speak to anyone in class, and you that you seem nice. I want to make friends with people, and I'm not very good at it. I don't want you sit alone anymore." I shrugged. Time to start being less ridiculous. "What year are you in? I don't see you around that often."

"Year six," he mumbled.

"Wow." I nodded approvingly. Not just anybody got to take a class above their technical "level".

I opened my mouth to continue Making Friends, when I was interrupted by a loud, flamboyant voice.

"Fantastic! Lily, she can _totally _help us find Scar. Leave it to me!"

Hugo flung himself into my field of vision, and Alex suddenly slumped even more and turned a deep shade of red.

"Alyss! Darling!" the enthusiastic boy flung his arm around my shoulders and grinned down at me. "How are you, I feel like we haven't chatted in _ages –"_

"If I leave it to you, you'll spend all day on pleasantries and gossip." Lily trotted up behind him exasperatedly, and shook her short mane of red hair out, cocking an eyebrow at him. She turned to me and rolled her eyes, as if to say "My cousin is an idiot and we shouldn't let him out into the wild".

I adored Scarlett's friends. I had decided to adopt them as extra little siblings. They were fab.

Wrapping my arm around Hugo's waist, I grinned up at Lily. "Hello to you too, guys. What's up?"

Lily sighed. "Hugo decided that he needed a dishing-about-boys session, and none of our other friends will join him. As his eternal wingman, I," she bowed sarcastically, "have the honour of being obliged to indulge him. We need to find Scar before my brain explodes with the ultimate pain."

Hugo pouted at her. "You know you have fun." He turned to me and brightened. "I don't suppose you want to join us?"

I laughed. "Sorry, guys, I have homework. Besides, I'm hanging out with Alex, over here."

The boy seemed to have shrunken in on himself, his floppy brown hair falling over his face in a bid to hide from the newcomers.

Hugo jumped away from me and practically skipped over to him, sticking out his hands in what seemed like a burst of energy. "I'm Hugo," he said happily. "This is Lily, my cousin. Nice to meet you!"

Alex stared at Hugo's hand in shock through locks of hair. "You too," he mumbled.

Hugo winked at him, and he managed to go even redder than he already was.

Hugo turned around to Lily. "I like this one," he stage whispered.

Alex's eyes widened.

"Would _you _like to join us in our dishing-about-cute-guys session?" Hugo asked hopefully. He seemed to attempt a suggestive grin (one that really only turned out to be really, really enthusiastic) at Alex and waggled his eyebrows at him.

Lily shook her head and physically dragged Hugo back. "Right! As you can see, my cousin isn't really fit for public release. Knowing this, we're going to go find somebody that he doesn't flirt with on sight." She glared at her cousin and threw an apologetic smile at the bewildered Alex. "Alyss, darling, it was a pleasure, as usual. We'll be off! Goodbye."

Hugo sighed. "Coffee this Saturday, Al?" He turned to Alex. "We should go get coffee sometime." He tried another wink, which seemed to blow Alex away a bit.

Lily proceeded to drag Hugo from the library before he terrified the population, but not before Alex and I heard him mutter to Lily "my goodness, we'll have to discuss _him _in our session."

Alex looked vaguely pleased.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Hugo, huh? My, Alex. That's quite something."

Alex flushed once again and narrowed his eyes at me. "Whatever. I hate you."

I grinned. If he was saying 'I hate you', we _must _be friends. "Sorry about him."

"No, don't be silly, I don't mind at all," Alex stuttered. The blush, once receded, had begun to creep further down his neck.

"So, will you sit with us in Herbology tomorrow?" I asked, changing the subject. "C'mon, my friends are nice. Besides you deserve to be recognized in class, my goodness. And nobody should have to sit alone, that's the most uncomfortable feeling. Please?"

He looked at me sideways. "Fine. I will. Whatever."

I stood and grinned again. Friendship _achieved. _I wondered why I had set out to do so in the first place.

Oh well – it didn't matter.

"And I'm going to take my leave _before _you change your mind!" I waved at a once again exasperated and resigned Alex.

Inside, he was probably as chuffed as me.

As I exited the library, I felt a hand grab my wrist gently, and I heard Albus's voice in my ear, whispering a mischievous "Come with me."

Oh _hell _no," said my inner voice.

"We said we were avoiding him!" said my inner voice.

My traitorous legs went with him anyway.

He pulled me into an abandoned classroom – that was nice. It was a classroom I had never seen before. How thoughtful! He knew that I liked to know what was going on around me and liked to explore my surroundings. This was okay! If he was _going _to be friendly, I would totally be down with this.

I put my bag down and took in my surroundings. It was all very medieval. Probably hadn't been used since the time of the founders! Ooh, I _loved _old castles.

I turned around to share that with Albus but when I did, he was so close that I practically had to crane my neck to see his face. "Hey," he murmured down at me, and he ruffled his hair and smiled down wickedly at me.

"Oh! Um, hey. This is very friendly of you! Thanksforshowingmemedievalthings. And…things." I looked down at my feet, very aware of the heat emanating off his body.

"I didn't bring you here to be friendly," he said, and suddenly he was kissing me, and it wasn't tentative like the last time. It was explosive.

Well, it was… random, to say the least. So I just kind of went with it. Not that my hormones gave me much of a choice.

His hands were, once again, fire, and I could feel myself being held up as I nipped his lips and grinned into his mouth. He sighed into my mouth and pulled me flush against him and I wiggled against him (poor boy). He groaned and walked me backwards until we reached the wall.

At which point he stopped kissing me, and I incoherently mumbled my annoyance.

It was alright, though, because he pinned me to the wall and continued to kiss along my jaw and down my neck, and for once I had trouble listing my pros and cons in my head.

Hell, I had trouble keeping anything in my head – especially something as organized as a _list. _I mean, jeez!

I tried to pull him back to my lips, but he refused, teasing me instead by kissing the corners of my mouth, and the spot behind my ear, and grazing my earlobe. I felt myself become steadily warmer, and I decided to take control of the situation.

I grasped his arms and turned us around quickly, so that Albus was against the wall and I could tease him. He groaned as I lightly pressed my lips to his, pulling back every time he tried to deepen the kiss. I smiled, enjoying the power.

It was always fun to have power.

However, it was also fun to be grappling with this beautiful boy – each of us trying to get the upper hand as we fought for control. His hands flew to my hips and he turned us around again, leaning down to my ear, his breath tickling my neck.

"Go out with me. Properly," he all but groaned, and I laughed breathily at the state of his voice.

"No," I whispered back, and nipped his earlobe (you know, to show that I didn't mean to be unkind – I was thoughtful that way.)

Suddenly, he was gone.

I looked up to see his mischievous grin as he backed out of the room. "Your loss, Little! But know that I plan on convincing you until you give."

With that, he swept from the room (more gracefully than I had realized was possible for him). "You haven't heard my lists of pros and cons yet!" I shouted after him hopelessly.

All I got in answer was a bubble of delicious laughter as he strode away from the classroom.

Well, lucky for him that he could leave. I would probably spend a half-hour here waiting to cool down in lieu of what just happened. _Fun._

* * *

><p><em><strong>I am so sorry that this took, like a year to come out, but I'm still on holiday so (PLEASE DON'T MURDER ME) the next one will probably also be a long time coming. I hope you enjoyed it (and I hope this answers any questions as to Hugo's sexuality, guest ;) ).<strong>_

_**Let me know what you thought, and thanks SO MUCH (seriously) for all the support! Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!**_

_**Lots of Love,**_

_**SarWolf**_

_**(ps: I just started a blog that reviews fanfics and if you want to find anything between fics, you're welcome to check it out! It's **_**_ or .com)_**


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